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THE  WORLD -VIEW  OF  THE 
FOURTH  GOSPEL 

A  GENETIC  STUDY 


A  DISSERTATION 
SUBMITTED  TO   THE  FACULTY 

OF  THE   GRADUATE  SCHOOL  OF  ARTS   AND  LITERATURE 

IN   CANDIDACY  FOR   THE  DEGREE  OF 

DOCTOR  OF  PHILOSOPHY 


DEPARTMENT  OF  NEW  TESTAMENT  AND 
EARLY  CHRISTIAN  LITERATURE 


BY 

THOMAS  WEARING 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO  PRESS 
CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS 

1918 


EXCHANGE 


Ube  TftniversitE  ot  Gbfca0o 


THE  WORLD-VIEW  OF  THE 
FOURTH  GOSPEL 

A  GENETIC  STUDY 


A  DISSERTATION 
SUBMITTED  TO   THE   FACULTY 

OF  THE   GRADUATE  SCHOOL  OF   ARTS   AND  LITERATURE 

IN   CANDIDACY  FOR  THE   DEGREE  OF 

DOCTOR   OF   PHILOSOPHY 


DEPARTMENT  OF  NEW   TESTAMENT   AND 
EARLY  CHRISTIAN   LITERATURE 


BY 

THOMAS  WEARING 

n 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO  PRESS 
CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS 

1918 


D> 


Published  July  1918 


Composed  and  Printed  By 

The  University  of  Chicago  Press 

Chicago,  Illinois.  U.S.A. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  TYPICAL  PRE-CHRISTIAN  HELLENISTIC  WORLD-VIEWS      ....  i 

II.  THE  JOHANNINE  UNIVERSE:  ITS  ORIGIN,  STRUCTURE,  AND  DESTINY  17 

III.  MAN  AND  THE  UNIVERSE  IN  THE  JOHANNINE  WORLD-VIEW  ...  35 

IV.  NEW  TESTAMENT  WORLD-VIEWS  AND  THEIR  INFLUENCE      ...  53 

SELECTED  BIBLIOGRAPHY .     .  68 

INDEX 71 


CHAPTER  I 
TYPICAL  PRE-CHRISTIAN  HELLENISTIC  WORLD-VIEWS 

The  primary  purpose  of  the  following  investigation  is  to  present 
various  thought-phenomena  which  constitute  the  intellectual  universe 
inhabited  by  the  writer — or  writers — to  whom  civilization  owes  that 
remarkable  Christian  literary  effort  known  as  the  Gospel  of  John.  It 
must  constantly  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  Gospel  is  literature  of  a  dis- 
tinctive religious  cast.  The  paramount  concern  of  religion  is  not  so  much 
the  creation  as  the  conservation  of  such  values  as  best  meet  the  experi- 
ential test  in  the  life  of  the  individual  or  the  community.1  As  a  writer 
holding  a  brief  for  the  Christian  religion  of  certain  thinkers  in  the 
Mediterranean  area  of  the  late  first  century  A.D.,  the  author  of  the  Fourth 
Gospel  naturally  presents  the  data  of  that  religion  in  such  a  way  as  to 
conserve  the  values  accepted  and  approved  by  that  particular  group  and 
apprehensible  also  to  the  wider  group  of  prospective  Christian  converts 
from  the  other  Hellenistic  religions.  It  is  this  which  distinguishes  the 
Fourth  Gospel  from  the  rest  of  the  New  Testament  writings,  certainly 
from  the  other  three  Gospels.  The  group  of  Christians  represented  by 
the  writer  has  a  different  world- view  from  the  groups  associated  in  the 
appearance  of  other  early  Christian  writings.  The  historical  figure 
standing  at  the  center  of  religious  life  and  thought  is  the  same  for  all. 
It  is  the  world-view,  the  point  of  view  of  the  universe,  that  is  different  for 
each. 

Every  self-conscious  human  has  a  world-view.  The  unreflective 
mind  may  not  relate  very  cogently  the  various  elements  in  its  cosmos. 
Yet  in  so  far  as  that  mind  finds  religious  expression  a  particular  and 
characteristic  world-view,  accepted  uncritically  through  the  media  of 
group-inheritance  or  modified  according  to  the  personal  attainments  of 
the  individual,  will  reveal  itself  in  the  religion  held  as  satisfying  personal 
needs.  The  theology  of  the  average  man,  as  well  as  that  of  the  erudite 
philosopher,  is  set  in  molds  which  are  fashioned  by  his  whole  view  of  the 

1  "Thus  Plato,  like  every  honest  philosopher,  utilized  his  own  personal  experiences 
as  the  key  with  which  to  interpret  human  life,  nay,  all  things  in  general." — Paulsen, 
Ethics  (trans.),  p.  48. 


:2.......     .T^R -WORLD-VIEW  OF  THE  FOURTH  GOSPEL 


universe  and  his  relation  to  it.1  Sanctions  administered  by  group- 
authority  will  to  a  certain  extent  retard  this  remolding  of  world-view. 
Especially  is  this  true  with  regard  to  sanctions  operating  under  the  aegis 
of  religion.  Athens  in  the  name  of  religion  puts  the  cup  of  poison  hem- 
lock to  the  lips  of  Socrates.  The  zealous  churchmen  of  Italy  make  life  a 
burden  for  Galileo.  In  the  latter  connection  it  is  interesting  to  note  that 
centuries  before  Galileo  the  same  heliocentric  view  of  the  universe  had 
stirred  up  trouble  for  its  protagonists.  It  had  been  put  forward  tenta- 
tively by  Aristarchus  of  Samos,  and  Plutarch  quotes  Cleanthes  the 
Stoic  to  the  effect  that  the  Greeks  should  have  put  Aristarchus  on  trial 
for  his  impiety  as  one  who  proposed  to  disturb  "  the  hearth  of  the  uni- 
verse." The  trouble  was  not  so  much  the  matter  of  giving  the  sun  a 
central  place  in  the  universe,  but  rather  of  considering  the  earth  as 
simply  one  of  the  attendant  planets.  This  last  notion  was  humiliating 
indeed  to  the  Stoic  theologian,  who  felt  that  human  beings  inhabiting 
the  earth  held  first  rank  in  creation  and  that  the  entire  universe  evi- 
denced but  one  purpose,  namely,  the  ministration  of  welfare  to  gods  and 
men.  To  preserve  the  dignity  of  man,  therefore,  he  must  maintain  at 
all  hazards  his  geocentric  theory.3 

Apart  from  overt  obstruction  of  the  reshaping  process  by  group- 
authority  there  is  also  the  group  thought-habit  which  is  ever  potent  in 
even  the  reflective  and  well-furnished  intellect.  The  most  finished 
product  in  the  way  of  a  world- view  cannot  in  the  very  nature  of  things 
be  other  than  a  compromise  between  the  heritage  of  the  past  and  the 
achievements  of  the  present.  The  mind  of  the  Hellenist  moved  along 
thought-pathways  well  marked  out  by  earlier  intellectual  wyageurs. 
Intellectual  orthodoxy  played  an  important  part  in  the  evolution  of 
Greek  speculation.  To  think  correctly  made  the  measure  of  the  man, 
for,  according  to  the  Socratic  doctrine,  right  knowledge  meant  virtue. 
With  the  Jew  the  necessary  lay  in  the  realm  of  practice  rather  than  in 
the  realm  of  the  intellect.  As  far  as  philosophizing  belonged  to  the 
Hebrew  mind  the  widest  latitude  obtained  so  long  as  the  ritual  require- 
ments of  the  Torah  received  due  observance.  For  the  Greek,  orthodoxy 

1  "A  man's  religion,  if  it  is  genuine,  contains  the  summed-up  and  concentrated 
meaning  of  his  life;  and  indeed  it  can  have  no  value  except  as  it  does  so.     And  it  is 
even  more  obvious  that  the  theology  of  a  philosopher  is  the  ultimate  outcome  of  his 
whole  view  of  the  universe  and  particularly  of  his  conception  of  the  nature  of  man. 
It  is  therefore  impossible  to  show  the  real  effect  and  purport  of  the  former  without 
exhibiting  very  carefully  and  fully  its  relations  to  the  latter." — Caird,  Evolution  of 
Theology  in  Greek  Philosophy,  Preface,  p.  viii. 

2  Arnold,  Roman  Stoicism,  p.  179. 


TYPICAL  PRE-CHRISTIAN  HELLENISTIC  WORLD-VIEWS      3 

dominated  thought;  for  the  Jew,  practice.  The  hatred  of  the  Jewish 
leaders  toward  Jesus  was  engendered  by  his  attitude  on  such  matters 
as  Sabbath  observance  and  Temple  ritual.  Heresy  trials  in  the  history 
of  Christianity  are  a  Greek  and  not  a  Hebrew  heritage.  Yet  in  spite 
of  this  operation  of  group-authority  for  both  Jew  and  Hellene,  and  some- 
what apart  from  it,  may  be  found  thought-tendencies  associated  closely 
with  the  group-habit  in  both.  Evidence  bearing  on  this  may  be  seen  in 
the  movements  of  thought  which  came  into  juxtaposition  in  the  Medi- 
terranean world  of  the  Hellenistic  period. 

For  the  Semite  a  world-view  of  a  heaven  above  and  a  sheol  below 
the  earthly  plane,  all  coming  into  existence  at  the  fiat  of  a  transcendent 
heavenly  being,  constantly  dominated  his  thought-habit.  For  him, 
man  generally,  but  particularly  the  race  to  which  he  belonged,  possessed 
the  power  of  divine  communication  and  fellowship,  however  ignored  or 
etiolated,  as  the  earthly  representative  and  image  of  this  transcendent 
being.  Immemorial  story  grooved  such  cosmical  ideas  deep  in  the  He- 
brew mind  and  seriously  hampered  it  in  becoming  at  home  in  a  world  of 
wider  thought.  This  is  seen  on  the  one  hand  in  the  prevailing  uniformity 
of  religious  philosophy  among  the  Jewish  writers,  and  on  the  other  in  their 
odd  casuistry  when  they  tried,  as  did  Philo,  to  make  some  change  of 
world- view  in  the  light  of  Hellenistic  intellectual  achievement.1  The 
Greek  had  an  entirely  different  way  of  looking  at  things.  Homer  could 
view  water  or  ocean  as  the  origin  of  all  things,  gods  and  men  included. 
For  Hesiod  the  vague  cosmic  substance  which  he  called  chaos  made  the 
universe  possible.  And  indeed  the  atheistic  creation-theory  of  the 
fifth-century,  Ephesian,  materialistic  philosopher  Heraclitus,  "Neither 
God  nor  man  made  the  cosmos,"  found  many  adherents  in  later  Greek 
speculation.2 

Opposed  to  the  retarding  forces  of  religious  sanction,  group-authority, 
and  thought-habit  in  the  reshaping  of  the  world-view  is  the  personal 
attainment  of  the  individual  in  an  ever-changing  environment.  The 
progress  of  religious  life  lies  this  way.  The  ideas  of  the  superearthly, 
the  supersensible,  the  superhuman,  of  God,  heaven,  hell,  the  life  after 

1  The  proverb  4)  U\druv  <f>t.\<avlfci  $  $l\wv  ir\a.rtavL^€i  illustrates  thePhilonic  method 
in  relation  to  Plato  as  viewed  by  early  interpreters.  In  his  Stromateis,  Clement  of 
Alexandria  calls  Philo  a  Pythagorean.  Eusebius  claims  that  he  follows  both  Plato 
and  Pythagoras.  Modern  interpreters  class  him  sometimes  with  the  Stoics  and  some- 
times with  the  neo-Pythagoreans  (cf.  E.  Schiirer,  History  of  the  Jewish  People2,  III, 
365)- 

3  L.  R.  Farnell,  The  Higher  Aspects  of  Greek  Religion,  p.  121. 


4  THE  WORLD-VIEW  OF  THE  FOURTH  GOSPEL 

death,  the  other  world — all  these  spring  from  the  onward  urge  of  the 
human  spirit  and  take  color  from  the  surroundings  in  which  they  find 
expression.  A  glance  at  the  development  of  religious  ideas  will  serve 
to  confirm  this  position. 

Man  comes  to  find  that  there  is  such  a  thing  as  controllable  reality. 
He  produces  changes  in  the  physical  sphere  by  means  of  effort.  Gradu- 
ally tools  for  the  task  are  fashioned  and  a  technique  of  more  or  less 
successful  control  comes  into  existence.  Apart  from  this  sphere  there 
appear  to  the  primitive  man  forces  outside  the  field  of  the  senses,  malig- 
nant or  benignant  as  the  case  may  be.  Deluge  and  lightning — inspiring 
fear  and  destroying  food  and  life — disease,  physical  suffering,  death; 
such  uncontrollable  factors  in  human  experience  make  the  individual 
dependent  upon  an  unreachable  unknown.  Having  won  out  in  some 
measure  in  the  struggle  with  the  outside  world  of  nature  man  is  em- 
boldened to  invent  means  of  coping  with  this  spirit-universe.  He 
tries  to  establish  relations  with  this  world  by  means  of  prayers,  gifts, 
flattery,  and  objurgation  addressed  to  its  inhabitants.  A  technique 
arises  in  this  field  of  human  endeavor.  A  distinct  class  develops  in  con- 
nection with  the  carrying  out  of  it.  Tradition  makes  this  class  possess 
extraordinary  powers,  and  the  idea  of  a  higher  being  comes  into  play.1 
The  magical  act  of  the  cult  gives  way  to  the  ordered  religious  process  in 
which  the  inner  life  of  the  individual  recognizes  and  obeys  a  higher  divine 
will.  It  is  the  working  force  of  the  invisible  that  creates  a  basic  cate- 
gory* for  the  primitive  religious  life.2  Then  by  means  of  analogy  reli- 
gious thinking  creates  doctrines  of  the  origin  of  the  world  and  man 
and  the  whither  of  all  life-processes.3  The  interpretation  of  reality,  the 
evaluation  of  life,  the  recognition  of  the  practical  ideal — these  enter  the 
thinking  of  the  individual  in  his  relation  to  the  invisible  and  create  his 
world- view.  As  he  "rounds  to  a  separate  mind"  and  lives  his  own 
distinct  life  each  human  being  discovers  the  elements  of  a  particular 

1  Ames,  The  Psychology  of  Religious  Experience,  pp.  168-94;  Coe,  The  Psychology 
of  Religion,  pp.  76-118. 

2  Foster,  Lecture  Notes,  Psychology  of  Religion. 

3  "Without  doubt  a  religion  is  not  primarily  a  view  of  the  world  and  of  life,  a 
doctrine  of  divine  and  human  things.     Rather  it  is  the  creation  of  a  distinctive  world 
of  reality,  the  development  of  a  new  life  under  the  dominant  conception  of  a  higher 
sphere.    The  life  that  here  grows  up  is  conscious  of  being  raised  far  above  mere  doc- 
trine, and  it  will  at  times  stoutly  defend  its  independence  of  the  latter.     But  it  could 
not  be  of  an  enlightened  sort  without  possessing  in  itself  and  developing  from  itself 
convictions  respecting  the  sum  total  of  human  existence." — Eucken,  The  Problem 
of  Human  Life,  p.  71. 


TYPICAL  PRE-CHRISTIAN  HELLENISTIC  WORLD-VIEWS      5 

world-view  impinging  upon  his  thought  in  immediate  and  directive 
potency.  And  in  the  organization  of  his  life  as  affected  by  the  environ- 
ment in  which  it  is  worked  out — as  also  the  new  religious  experiences 
through  which  he  passes — these  elements  arrange  themselves  into  new 
relations  modifying  inevitably  the  structure  of  his  world-view. 

Two  definitions  will  serve  to  demonstrate  the  practical  nature  of 
the  world-view.  According  to  August  Baur  it  is — 

not  a  purely  theoretical  relation  to  nature,  although  the  theoretic  moment  is 
undeniably  contained  in  it — not  a  purely  disinterested  apprehension  and 
knowledge  of  the  world  as  a  sum  of  particulars;  it  includes  much  more  a 
practical  personal  interest  in  itself;  for  it  is  a  judgment  of  worth  upon  the 
world  as  a  whole,  as  a  single  given  magnitude  in  space  and  time  in  relation  to 
the  life-aim,  the  life-determination  of  the  viewing  subject.  It  is  a  considera- 
tion and  valuation  of  existence  in  space  and  time  in  the  light  of  our  own  proper 
life-aim,  which  in  the  most  general  sense  of  the  word  we  are  able  to  designate 
as  a  moral  one. 

Ritschl,  applying  the  adjective  "religious"  to  the  word  Weltan- 
schauung, says  that  it  is  grounded  in  the  fact  that  man  in  some  degree 
distinguishes  himself  in  worth  from  the  natural  appearances  surrounding 
him.  For  Ritschl  the  world-view  is  "an  interpretation  of  the  course 
of  nature  in  this  sense  that  the  exalted  spiritual  powers — or  spiritual 
Power — which  rule  in  and  over  nature  maintain  and  confirm  to  the 
personal  spirit  its  claims,  or  its  independence  against  the  limitations 
arising  from  nature  or  from  the  natural  workings  of  human  society."1 
Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  the  various  world-views  operating  in  the  shaping 
of  religious  thought  are  not  like  so  many  pearls  on  a  thread,  detached 
and  separate  entities.  Rather  are  they  expressions  of  a  continuous  and 
developmental  life-process,  each  assuredly  taking  form  and  color  accord- 
ing to  the  time  and  place  associated  with  its  appearances,  yet  each  vitally 
connected  with  the  yesterday  and  the  tomorrow  of  thought  and  conduct. 

In  the  early  attempts  at  a  correlation  of  the  facts  of  the  universe  as 
they  appeared  to  the  human  mind  many  elements,  religious,  rational, 
ethical,  and  poetical,  were  mingled  together  in  such  a  way  as  to  leave  little 
basis  for  classification.  From  the  period  inaugurated  by  the  pre- 
Socratic  thinkers  there  emerge  at  intervals  world-views  more  or  less 
differentiable.  That  held  by  Democritus  and  borrowed  from  him  in 
some  degree  by  later  schools,  such  as  that  of  Epicurus,  views  the  universe 
as  composed  of  "an  indefinite  number  of  indestructible  particles  acting 

1  Orr,  Christian  View  of  God  and  the  World,  pp.  422  ff.,  quotes  and  discusses  these 
definitions. 


6  THE  WORLD-VIEW  OF  THE  FOURTH  GOSPEL 

independently  through  forces  within  themselves  toward  certain  deter- 
mined ends."  To  use  a  somewhat  clumsy  terminology,  this  may  be 
called  a  materialistic,  mechanistic  view  of  the  world.  In  modern  times 
this  view  has  many  adherents.  A  second  main  class  comes  under  the 
name  of  theistic.  It  includes  monotheism,  polytheism,  and  pantheism, 
for  all  of  these  predicate  a  life-principle  as  fundamental  in  causation 
and  only  diffe'r  in  identifying  it  with  a  single  or  plural  deific  hypothesis 
apart  from,  or  at  one  with,  the  universe.1  It  is  within  this  class  that 
the  Christian  world-view  as  pictured  in  the  Fourth  Gospel  takes  its 
place.  In  order  that  it  may  be  better  understood  a  discussion  of  the 
different  yet  related  world-views  constituting  the  milieu  from  which 
this  Gospel  sprang  is  necessary. 

The  thought  of  Hellenistic  times,  as  also  the  thought  of  all  Western 
civilization,  derives  largely  from  Plato,  and  therefore  his  work  may  very 
well  mark  the  commencement  of  this  survey.  In  examining  this  the 
difficulty  of  rightly  interpreting  his  language  is  immediately  apparent. 
He  is  at  once  the  philosopher  and  the  artist.  "  Didactic  statement  and 
poetic  myth  in  Plato  often  merge  imperceptibly  into  one  another," 
writes  Eucken.3  Yet  the  main  energy  of  Plato  is  directed  toward 
finding  that  which  is  good  and  valuable  in  ennobling  the  life-values. 
His  world-view  is  dominantly  dualistic  with  the  universe  of  ideas  set 
over  against  the  phenomenal  world.  This  latter  is  too  disintegrated,  too 
mutable,  for  life  to  be  based  upon  it  with  any  degree  of  hope.  Socrates 
with  his  doctrine  of  thought  and  the  nature  of  concepts  had  opened  the 
way  for  the  recognition  of  a  higher  sphere.  Yet  he  predicated  only  the 
universality  of  human  thought.  Plato  goes  a  step  farther.3  He  avers 
that  the  concept  cannot  be  true  unless  it  operates  beyond  human  thought 
and  corresponds  to  a  reality  in  things.  To  him  knowledge  is  not  alto- 
gether dependent  on  uncertain  opinions,  but  is  produced  by  permanent 
conceptual  entities.  Thus  he  rises  to  the  belief  that  there  exists  in  the 
All  an  invisible  immutable  world,  a  realm  of  thought-existences  beyond 
this  fleeting  world  of  sense.  This  ideal  world  stands  in  sharp  antithesis 
to  the  world  of  appearances  in  which  difference  creates  conflict  and 
conflict  leads  to  the  endless  mutation  of  life  and  death.  The  world  of 
appearances  is  so  far  real  and  divine  as  it  is  a  reflection  of  the  divine 
intelligence.  Yet  being  only  a  reflection  it  remains  undivine  and 

1  See  Hibben,  The  Problems  of  Philosophy,  chap,  ii,  pp.  59-77,  for  a  discussion  of 
speculation  on  the  world-problem. 

2  Eucken,  op.  cit.,  pp.  16,  17. 

3  Eucken,  The  Problems  of  Philosophy,  p.  19. 


TYPICAL  PRE-CHRISTIAN  HELLENISTIC  WORLD-VIEWS       7 

unreal.1  The  visible  universe  is  created  by  the  divine  artificer  after  the 
eternal  patterns  furnished  by  the  invisible,  unchanging  world  of  ideas. 
The  universe  is  a  living  creature  endowed  with  soul  and  intelligence 
by  the  providence  of  God.  The  soul  is  a  mediating  existence  bridging  the 
gulf  between  the  eternal  intelligence,  the  VOT/O-IS  voija-ews,  and  the  transi- 
tory world  of  sense,  between  man  and  God.3  It  is  an  absolutely  perma- 
nent substance;  therefore  the  actual  number  of  souls  remains  ever  the 
same.  It  is  of  the  same  nature  as  being  and  as  such  is  immortal. 
The  grosser  elements  which  have  attached  themselves  to  it  in  the 
phenomenal  universe  may  be  cast  aside  and  thus  the  soul  may  be 
perfected. 

Aristotle's  view  of  the  world  may  be  appreciated  more  readily  in 
comparison  with  that  of  his  master,  Plato.  He  agrees  with  Plato  that 
human  life  is  to  be  understood  only  from  the  standpoint  of  the  whole 
of  reality,  that  human  existence  finds  its  source  in  the  cosmos,  that 
intelligence  unites  man  to  the  universe  and  is  the  essence  of  human 
being.3  Like  the  Academic  he  attempts  to  explain  the  universe  on  the 
principle  of  Anaxagoras,  that  "all  things  were  in  chaos  till  reason  came  to 
arrange  them,"  and  endeavors  to  overcome  the  resultant  dualism  of  form 
and  matter  by  subjecting  the  latter  to  the  former,  the  world  of  conflict 
and  change  to  the  unchanging,  pure  intelligence.4 

Farther  than  this  Aristotle  will  not  travel  with  his  teacher.  The 
ultimate  aim  of  Plato  was  not  only  to  demonstrate  the  unity  of  all 
things  but  to  set  forth  this  unity  in  a  comprehensive  system  of  thought 
organically  connected  throughout  yet  displaying  its  distinguishable 
elements.  The  dominant  purpose  of  the  Peripatetic  was  to  account  for 
the  whole  by  a  detailed  examination  of  its  parts,  to  fix  each  element  in  its 
place  as  distinct  from  the  rest.5  For  Plato  the  eternality  in  truth  and 
beauty  is  understood  only  in  the  separation  of  the  world  of  essence  from 
the  world  of  appearance.  For  Aristotle  this  is  not  necessary.  He  is 
concerned  with  demonstrating  the  unity  and  beauty  of  all  reality, 
with  seeing  the  universe  as  an  "empire  of  reason,"  and  consequently 
sets  aside  the  Platonic  doctrine  of  ideas  as  separating  the  actual  world 

1  Caird,  op.  cit.,  I,  226. 

2  "The  soul  in  its  totality  has  the  care  of  all  inanimate  and  soulless  being  every- 
where, and  traverses  the  whole  universe  appearing  in  diverse  forms." — Plato  Phaedrus 
xxiv.  63. 

3  Eucken,  The  Problem  of  Human  Life,  p.  46. 
*  Caird,  op.  cit.,  II,  33. 

s  Ibid.,  I,  203. 


8  THE  WORLD-VIEW  OF  THE  FOURTH  GOSPEL 

from  the  world  of  real  being.1  The  transcendent  deity  of  Plato  is  for 
Aristotle  the  source  of  reason  and  the  origin — although  very  remote — 
of  the  motion  pervading  the  universe.  Eucken  goes  so  far  as  to  say 
that  Aristotle  denies  to  the  deity  any  activity  within  the  world  and  thus 
shuts  out  the  necessity  for  religion,  for  providence,  and  for  the  moral  order 
of  the  world.  Edward  Caird,  on  the  other  hand,  claims  that  although 
at  first  Aristotle  moves  away  from  Plato  in  many  ways,  such  as  repudiat- 
ing the  Platonic  idea  of  souls  being  made  in  various  degrees  of  obscuration 
and  the  doctrine  of  soul-transmigration,  yet  in  the  end  the  Aristotelian 
world-view  sees  the  universe  as  a  teleological  whole.  This  purposive 
unity  finds  its  principle  in  the  pure  nature  of  mind,  or  self-consciousness, 
a  principle  realizing  itself  in  every  rational  being  and  itself  eternally 
realized  in  God. 

The  advance  of  Aristotle  is  seen  in  this:  he  repudiates  the  mystic 
tendency  of  Plato  which  regarded  the  connection  of  the  soul  and  body  as 
accidental  or  external,  and  stresses  the  idea  that  human  happiness 
consists,  not  in  escape  from  life,  but  in  complete  rational  activity  for  the 
individual.  Virtue  for  him  is  not  the  Platonic  liberation  from  social 
bonds,  but  is  to  be  found  by  the  individual  in  social  relationships  where 
he  may  be  able  to  "  live  well."  This  is  the  cv  tfiv  of  Aristotle.  The  ideal 
life  is  that  of  calm  contemplation  through  an  extended  period.  This  is 
Aristotle's  ^wpea,2  which  according  to  his  notion  creates  a  rational 
foundation  for  the  ci  t^v.  A  new  point  of  view  is  also  observed  in 
Aristotle's  treatment  of  the  soul  as  subject  to  diseases  (Tra^/oara).* 
Here  the  practical  philosopher  is  given  a  place  to  assist  in  the  cure  of 
souls  by  the  use  of  reason  in  the  expulsion  of  the  various  diseases  affect- 
ing their  welfare.  Thus  for  Aristotle  the  philosopher  becomes  the 
coadjutor  of  the  physician. 

In  the  period  following  Aristotle  it  is  this  practical  tendency  which 
comes  to  the  fore  in  the  thinking  of  the  Mediterranean  peoples.  The 
currents  of  cosmopolitanism  which  set  in  with  the  Macedonian  triumph 
continued  to  flow  through  the  period  of  Greek  and  Roman  domination 
in  the  life  of  people  brought  together  for  the  first  time  into  relationship 
with  a  real  world-empire.  As  the  conquered  peoples  entered  into  the 

1  Eucken,  The  Problem  of  Human  Life,  p.  46. 

2  " .  .  .  .  Aristotle  conceives  the  life  of  man  as  consisting  of  the  exercise  of  reason, 
and  as  comprising  two  distinct  forms  of  that  exercise,  Qeupla.  and  7»7>a£is,  the  pure 
activity  of  contemplation  and  the  mixed  and  imperfect  activity  of  the  practical  life."- 
Caird,  op.  cit.,  I,  295. 

3  Arnold,  op.  cit.,  p.  61. 


TYPICAL  PRE-CHRISTIAN  HELLENISTIC  WORLD-VIEWS      9 

wider  world-relations  national  and  tribal  sanctions  tended  to  retreat  or 
to  take  on  new  forms.  This  brought  greater  freedom  of  thought  and 
conduct  to  the  individual1  and  at  the  same  time  a  feeling  that  he  could 
no  longer  be  absolutely  sure  of  the  universe  which  made  its  influence 
potent  in  his  life.2  In  connection  with  this  rise  of  individualism  is  seen 
the  growth  of  such  philosophico-religious  systems  as  that  of  the  Stoics, 
where  each  is  provided  with  a  guide  for  the  journey  of  life,  where  phi- 
losophy becomes  the  preceptress  of  conduct  for  the  individual. 

Stoicism  has  for  its  object  the  unifying  of  man's  life  in  such  a  way 
as  to  put  it  beyond  the  care-creating  clutch  of  external  circumstance. 
In  obeying  his  own  nature  the  Stoic  is  conscious  that  he  is  in  harmony 
with  the  law  of  the  universe,  a  law  which  all  things  obey,  but  which  it  is 
the  privilege  of  only  rational  beings  to  comprehend  and  to  make  the 
conscious  rule  of  life.3  The  Stoic's  world-view  is  monistic  and  is  devel- 
oped in  opposition  to  the  dualism  which  in  Plato  separates  form  and 
matter.  To  the  Stoic,  matter  and  form  are  simply  aspects  of  one  sub- 
stance. All  things  flow  from,  and  finally  return  to,  the  fiery  breath, 
TO  Trvtvpa  SiaTTvpov,  which  is  the  quintessence  of  all  matter.  The  Stoic 
was  the  intellectual  heir  of  Heraclitus  in  this  thought  of  the  primary 
stuff  as  ever-living  fire.  All  material  bodies  are  interpenetrated  by  each 
other  and  by  the  ethereal  fire.4  All  things  came  from  this  fire  and  ulti- 
mately all  things  must  be  reabsorbed  into  it.  "The  fire  shall  one  day 
come,  judge  all  things,  and  condemn  them,"  said  Heraclitus.5 

True  happiness  for  the  followers  of  Zeno,  Aristippus,  and  Cleanthes 
is  found  by  following  the  guidance  of  the  Aoyos,  "the  universal  reason." 
Complete  union  with  this  will  give  him  drapa^ta,  "an  imperturbable 
independence,"  and  an  inner  mastery  over  things.  His  goal  of  effort  is 
the  TroAireux  TOV  KOO-JUOV,  a  world-citizenship  created  by  the  union  of  all 
rational  beings.6  He  is  not  concerned  to  seek  out  the  future  of  soul- 
existence  so  much  as  to  fortify  the  entire  man  in  the  present  struggle  with 
the  world.  That  the  Stoic  attempt  in  this  direction  proved  very  suc- 
cessful is  noted  in  the  remarkable  spread  of  this  religious  philosophy  and 
in  its  long  continuance  in  ministration  to  the  needs  of  the  Hellenistic 

1  "Aber  diese  freie  Entfaltung  und  starke  Eigenart  der  Personlichkeit  in  den  ober- 
sten  Schichten  der  Gesellschaft  ist  doch  nur  das  Symptom  der  allgemeinen  stark  in- 
dividualistischen  Richtung  der  Zeit." — Wendland,  Die  hellenistisch-romische  Kultur, 
p.  47. 

2  Eucken,  The  Problem  of  Human  Life,  p.  77.  4  Arnold,  op.  cit.,  p.  169. 

3  Caird,  op.  cit.,  II,  76.  s  Ibid.,  p.  35,  n.  36. 
6  Caird,  op.  cit.,  II,  201;  cf.  also  Wendland,  op.  cit.,  pp.  43,  45. 


io  THE  WORLD-VIEW  OF  THE  FOURTH  GOSPEL 

world.  The  famous  hymn  of  Cleanthes1  strikes  a  note  of  undoubted 
optimism,  and  in  spite  of  the  allusions  made  by  critics  to  the  cold  manner 
and  callous  arrogance  of  the  Stoics  it  is  coming  to  be  acknowledged  that 
in  the  main  their  teaching  and  their  kind  of  life  induced  real  happiness.8 
"From  the  few  glimpses  we  have  of  their  inmost  feelings  and  that  atti- 
tude to  the  universe  which  constitutes  the  essence  of  religion,  what  is 
most  clearly  distinguishable  is  joy  and  gratitude,  serene  confidence  and 
unwavering  submission,"  writes  R.  D.  Hicks. 

If  the  Stoic  reaches  happiness  in  boldly  defying  the  universe  in  which 
he  finds  himself  the  Epicurean  is  desirous  to  surrender  himself  to  it  as 
agreeably  as  possible.  The  one  strives  to  rise  superior  to  all  the  vicissi- 
tudes of  earthly  life;  the  other  is  determined  to  make  a  pleasing  use 
of  the  same  materials.  For  the  Epicurean  the  universe  is  a  fortuitous 
concourse  of  atoms,3  this  following  the  teaching  of  Democritus  of  Abdera. 
Such  order  and  system  as  may  be  found  in  the  universe  are  reflected  in 
the  intrinsic  nature  of  the  atoms  by  virtue  of  which  they  seize  upon  each 
other,  forming  themselves  into  separate  entities.  The  platonic  fore- 
ordained necessity,  eip/Aa/ofien/,  which  was  taken  over  by  the  Stoics  is 
resolutely  denied  by  the  Epicureans,  and  the  divination  accompanying 
this  is  dismissed  as  mere  superstition.4  The  gods  are  celestial  beings 
beyond  thought  and  care  for  human  affairs.  Immortality  of  the  soul, 
which  meant  so  much  to  Plato,  is  nothing  but  a  pleasant  fiction.  Death 
closes  all  existence  as  far  as  human  beings  are  concerned.  The  present 
claims  the  attention  of  the  wise  man.  The  summum  bonum  is  the  agree- 
able life  or,  viewed  negatively,  freedom  from  mental  trouble  about 
death,  the  gods,  or  the  future  life.  The  practical  outcome  of  such  a 
world-view  was  the  avoidance  of  social  burdens  such  as  the  marriage 
tie5  and  civic  duties — so  carefully  performed  by  the  Stoic — and  the 
cultivation  by  active  missionary  propaganda  of  societies  resembling 
religious  communities.6 

1  See  hymn  quoted  in  Arnold,  op.  cit.,  pp.  85-87;  cf.  Hicks,  Stoic  and  Epicurean, 
pp.  14-16. 

3  Hicks,  op.  cit.,  pp.  18,  108. 

3  Lucretius  De  rerum  natura  ii.  80-140;  quoted  in  Cicero  De  natura  deorum  i.  20. 

<  Op.  cit.  i.  20. 

s  Eucken,  The  Problem  of  Human  Life,  p.  84;  Arnold,  op.  cit.,  p.  93. 

6  "Epicurus  and  his  disciples  proselytized,  and  closely  organized  their  society. 
It  extended  throughout  the  whole  of  Greece,  a  state  within  a  state,  having  a  fixed 
constitution  and  held  together,  not  only  by  correspondence  and  itinerant  preaching,  but 
by  the  interchange  of  material  assistance.  Epicurus  knew  how  to  create  an  esprit  de 
corps  which  has  rightly  been  likened  to  that  existing  in  the  early  Christian  communi- 
ties."— Ivo  Bruns,  quoted  by  Eucken,  The  Problem  of  Human  Life,  p.  84. 


TYPICAL  PRE-CHRISTIAN  HELLENISTIC  WORLD-VIEWS    n 

Over  against  the  followers  of  Zeno  and  Epicurus  in  the  centuries 
from  the  midst  of  whose  life  and  thought  came  the  Christian  writings 
stood  the  adherents  of  the  later  Academy  who  went  by  the  name  of 
Skeptics.  They  called  the  accidental-concourse  theory  of  the  Epi- 
cureans mere  rubbish.  They  told  the  Stoic  that  if,  according  to  his 
idea,  man  received  reason  from  the  gods,  then  the  gods  are  ultimately 
responsible  for  all  the  good  and  the  ill  that  follow  the  exercise  of  reason. 
Stoic  and  Epicurean  alike  were  strongly  individualistic.  For  both,  the 
main  effort  was  to  make  man  strong  in  himself  and  either  independent  of, 
or  tolerant  to,  the  world.  To  the  Skeptic  both  were  wrong  in  basing  the 
independence  of  the  individual  upon  some  belief  in  the  nature  of  the 
world  as  exterior  to  the  thought  of  man  concerning  it.  He  claimed  that 
no  such  support  is  necessary.  Knowledge  comes  only  through  sense- 
perception.  Even  those  sensations  and  ideas  which  make  knowledge 
possible  are  but  states  of  individual  subjectivity.  Man  cannot  know 
things  as  they  are,  but  only  as  they  appear  to  be.  Edward  Caird  sees 
in  this  purely  subjective  world-view  of  the  Skeptic  the  bridge  by  means 
of  which  religious  speculation  passed  over  into  neo-Platonism  with  its 
ultimate  losing  of  the  subjective  consciousness  in  a  non-rational  ecstatic 
union  with  the  Absolute  Being.  The  individualism  of  the  Stoic  and  the 
Epicurean  merged  with  the  subjectivism  of  the  Skeptic  into  the  neo- 
Pla tonic  transcendent  Absolute,  in  whom  the  highest  being  might  lose 
itself  and  thus  experience  the  summum  bonum.1  The  Skeptic  influence 
is  also  found  in  the  later  Stoics.  It  is  seen  in  Seneca  and  in  Marcus 
Aurelius  where  the  earlier  Stoic  self-confidence  has  a  tendency  to  recede 
before  a  self-despair.  This  allows  the  individual  to  move  through  the 
loss  of  self-reliance  to  the  religious  spirit  that  loses  itself  only  to  find 
itself  in  God.  Yet  with  all  this  negation  in  his  view  of  the  universe  the 
Skeptic  did  not  find  himself  deterred  from  a  conventional  acceptance  of 
popular  mythology — rightly  interpreted — and  an  adherence  to  the 
popular  forms  of  religious  practice.  According  to  Cicero,  in  practical 
life  the  Skeptic  was  even  willing  to  allow  that  external  goods  came  from 
the  gods  and  that  the  right  use  of  these  by  the  individual  constituted 
the  chief  good.2 

A  species  of  religious  world-view  that  appears  in  early  Semitic 
thought  along  the  Tigris-Euphrates  Valley  very  markedly  affected 
all  speculation  of  the  Mediterranean  world.  This  view  accepted  the 
idea  of  a  dualism,  with  the  heavenly  bodies  as  the  mediating  agencies 
between  the  deity  and  man.  It  held  to  an  invariability  of  sidereal 

1  Caird,  op.  cit.,  II,  172.  a  Cicero  op.  cit.,  iii.  26. 


12  THE  WORLD-VIEW  OF  THE  FOURTH  GOSPEL 

revolutions,  which  could,  none  the  less,  be  modified  by  the  exceptional 
operation  of  the  will  of  the  deity.  Such  phenomena  as  comets  and 
falling  stars  readily  lent  color  to  this  doctrine.  The  eternity  of  the 
universe  was  held  as  a  resultant  of  the  theory  that  the  stars  moved  in 
invariable  cycles  of  years.1  The  principle  of  life,  warming  and  animating 
the  body  of  man,  was  held  to  be  of  the  same  essence  as  the  fires  of  heaven. 
By  patient  contemplation  and  study  of  the  heavenly  bodies  and  their 
motions  the  faithful  received  from  them  the  revelation  of  all  knowledge, 
past,  present,  and  future. 

Although  the  spirit  of  the  Greek  religion  was  fundamentally  opposed 
to  the  deification  of  distant  potencies,  such  as  the  celestial  bodies,  the 
different  world-views  of  the  various  philosophical  schools  show  patently 
the  influence  of  astrological  speculation.  As  East  and  West  commingle 
in  Hellenistic  thought,  deity  throughout  becomes  less  chthonic  and 
more  astral.  The  gods  ascend  from  the  hearth  and  the  home  and  even 
from  the  heights  of  Olympus  to  take  their  places  in  the  celestial  regions 
far  above  the  earth.  Pythagoras,  Plato,  and  Aristotle  all  called  the 
stars  visible  gods.  Chrysippus  said  that  the  heavenly  bodies,  being  of 
purest  ether,  must  be  divine.  For  him  the  stars  possess  highest  intelli- 
gence and  move  voluntarily  of  their  own  consciousness  and  divinity.2 
The  ideas  of  fate,  or  the  inescapable  relation  between  cause  and  effect, 
and  the  interdependence  of  the  heavens  and  the  earth  in  connection 
with  human  events,  so  widespread  among  the  Stoics  and  represented 
indeed  in  all  Hellenistic  thought,  had  their  earliest  exponents  in  the 
Babylonian  plains.  The  influence  of  this  type  of  thinking  is  seen  in 
the  neo-Pythagoreanism  of  the  time  of  early  Christianity,  with  its  doc- 
trines of  the  eternity  of  the  universe,  the  influence  of  the  stars  upon  the 
sublunary  world,  the  belief  in  airy  demons  who  torture  mankind,  and 
the  symbolism  of  numbers  with  their  mystic  power.3  Aurelian,  in 
274  A.D.,  officially  recognized  astral  theology  by  having  a  splendid  temple 
built  to  Sol  Invictus,  and  placing  therein  images  of  Bel  and  Helios  which 
had  been  imported  from  Palmyra.  The  emperor  Julian,  who  opposed 
early  Christianity  so  violently,  called  the  sun  his  "king-star"  and  made 
himself  the  champion  of  the  cult,  going  so  far  as  to  consider  himself  the 
spiritual  son  of  Sol  Invictus.4  For  him  as  for  all  who  embraced  sidereal 

1  Cumont,  Astrology  and  Religion  among  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  p.  24. 

8  Cicero  op.  cit.  ii.  7-31.  3  Cumont,  op.  cit.,  p.  87. 

*  While  allowing  himself  especial  prominence  as  the  offspring  of  Helios,  Julian 
claims  a  like  paternity  for  humanity  at  large,  oik  drindfa  5£  ratr-riv,  fy  riZube-rjv 
avrbs  irapa  TOV  deov  rovde  pepldos,  tv  T<£  Kparovvri  Kal  fiaffiXevovri  TTJS  yrjs  ytvei  rots  /car' 
t/j.avrbv  xpt>vot*  ycvbpevos,  d\X'  ^you/wu,  ehrep  XP^  TreldevOai  rots  (robots,  airdvTUV 
TTUV  elvai  TOVTOV  Koivbv  Trartpa. — Julian  Oration  iv.  131  C. 


TYPICAL  PRE-CHRISTIAN  HELLENISTIC  WORLD-VIEWS     13 

theology  the  sun  regulated  the  harmonious  movements  of  the  planets, 
unified  the  entire  universe,  had  intelligence,  and  produced  the  appearance 
upon  the  earth  of  the  souls  of  men. 

While  the  influence  of  astral  speculation  moved  westward  permeating 
the  philosophy  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  a  strong  tide  of  thought  set 
eastward  from  around  the  Aegean  and  stirred  Oriental  thinking.  The 
flotsam  and  jetsam  of  this  tide  drifted  into  different  reaches  of  Eastern 
reflection  and  furnished  useful  material  for  the  earnest  minds  of  the  time. 
The  literature  of  the  Jewish  people  in  the  vicinity  of  Alexandria,  such  as 
the  Book  of  Wisdom,  the  writings  of  Philo  Judaeus,  the  Book  of  the 
Secrets  of  Enoch,  and  IV  Maccabees,  all  bear  witness  to  the  action  of 
this  tide  from  the  West. 

Philo  adopts  the  theory  of  the  universe  and  its  beginnings  from 
Plato's  Timaeus  and  with  religious  assiduity  distributes  its  various 
details  throughout  his  interpretation  of  the  Jewish  sacred  writ.  By 
such  an  ingenious  proceeding  the  creation  stories  of  Genesis  are  brought 
up  to  date  and  made  for  the  Alexandrian  Jew  really  intelligible  and  satis- 
fying. Hellenistic  Logos  ideas  and  earlier  Jewish  notions  concerning 
Wisdom  are  woven  by  Philo  into  a  doctrinal  texture  that  for  him  em- 
bodies the  best  features  of  both.  In  pictorial  language  he  declares 
that  his  world-view  includes  God,  the  Supreme  Being,  as  the  Father, 
the  Logos  as  the  Son,  and  the  physical  universe  as  the  grandson.1  At 
times  the  Logos  takes  the  place  of  deity  itself,  and  Philo  displays  the 
ditheism  of  the  Gnostic.  The  daemon  theory  of  Socrates  reappears 
in  Philo's  belief  that  every  man  has  a  permanent  divine  Logos  attached 
to  his  person.  For  him  matter  is  eternally  and  essentially  evil.  The 
implications  of  this  doctrine  lead  Philo,  as  also  Wisdom  and  IV  Macca- 
bees, to  deny  the  otherwise  prominent  Jewish  notion  of  the  resurrection 
of  the  body.  For  Philo  the  soul  is  pre-existent.  Incorporeal  souls 
inhabit  the  air.  Purer  souls  belong  to  angelic  beings,  while  the  less 
pure  drift  earthward  to  unite  with  mortal  bodies.  This  is  platonic  in 
its  atmosphere.  Wisdom  disagrees  here,  for  its  writer  holds  that  a 
child  good  by  nature  may  have  "a  good  soul  fall  to  his  lot."  In  Philo's 
opinion  only  a  few  of  those  souls  who  descend  into  mortal  bodies  are 
saved,  and  that  by  spiritual  philosophy,  "meditating,  from  beginning 
to  end,  on  how  to  die  to  the  life  in  the  body  in  order  to  obtain  incorporeal 
and  immortal  life  in  the  presence  of  the  uncreated  and  immortal  God."2 
For  Alexandrian  Judaism  the  soul  immediately  after  death  enters  on  its 
final  award,  whether  of  bliss  or  of  torment.  Here  it  parts  company  very 

1  Ibid.,  p.  154. 

a  Caird,  op.  cit.,  II,  201. 


14  THE  WORLD-VIEW  OF  THE  FOURTH  GOSPEL 

definitely  with  the  earlier  and  Palestinian  type  which  held  to  a  sheol, 
with  a  resurrection  and  a  final  judgment  for  all  followed  by  torment 
for  the  wicked  and  bliss  for  the  righteous.  For  Philo  the  idea  of  the 
pre-existence  of  the  soul  interferes  successfully  with  a  rigid  racial  solidar- 
ity and  thus  the  soul,  at  the  dissolution  of  its  prison-house,  the  body, 
does  not  need  to  be  retarded  by  racial  considerations  from  reaching 
its  own  particular  consummation.  R.  H.  Charles  remarks  upon  the 
strangeness  of  his  world- view,  which  portrays  man  in  this  present  life  as 
determined  by  his  ethical  conduct  when  a  pre-existent  soul,  conceiving 
the  pre-existent  state  to  be  ethical  and  capable  of  progress  upward  or 
downward,  yet  leaving  the  after-life,  the  post-corporeal  existence  of  the 
soul,  mechanically  fixed  for  good  or  evil  to  all  eternity.1  Yet  in  Philo 
this  doctrine  is  not  consistently  applied,  for  we  at  times  find  him  placing 
in  the  present  life  the  opportunity  for  man  to  make  progress  from  the 
higher  to  the  lower.  To  do  this  man  must  despise  the  flesh,  regard 
sense-phenomena  as  unreal,  and  entirely  abandon  love  of  self.  This 
progressive  activity  turns  in  the  way  of  "reverence,"  and  "love,"  and 
"  loving  knowledge,"  each  phase  bringing  the  individual  nearer  and  nearer 
to  the  divine  presence.2  The  element  of  attainment  in  Philo  moves 
along  with  the  idea  of  God  as  a  self-revealing,  transcendent  deity,  and 
of  the  universe  and  especially  man  as  constituting  a  revelation  of  the 
divine.  The  notions  of  immanence  and  transcendence  in  the  view  of 
Philo  are  woven  by  him  into  a  weird  fabric  which  nevertheless  to  him, 
with  his  religious  preconceptions  inherited  from  Jewish  ancestry  and  his 
cultural  acquaintance  with  Hellenicism,  appears  eminently  comfortable 
and  satisfactory. 

A  syncretistic  world- view  embodying  features  of  all  those  so  far  dis- 
cussed and  regnant  throughout  the  Hellenistic  life  from  which  the  Fourth 
Gospel  emanated  is  that  which  was  held  by  the  Gnostics  of  the  first 
century  A.D.  It  is  agreed  today  that  one  of  the  main  interests  of  the 
Gospel  is  the  recognition  of  early  Christian  Gnostic  influence  upon  Chris- 
tian tradition.  A  description  of  the  pre-Christian  Gnostic  world-view 
will  demonstrate  the  fluctuation  of  ideas  about  the  deity,  the  universe, 
and  man  in  the  environment  belonging  to  the  appearance  of  the  Fourth 
Gospel.  The  dualism  of  Plato  and  Aristotle,  with  matter  as  formless 
and  unreal  in  distinction  from  the  world  of  reality,  gives  way  in  Gnosti- 
cism before  a  dualism  which  represents  two  diverse  and  real  worlds, 
both  full  of  energetic  activity — the  world  of  good,  the  spirit,  and  the 

1  Charles,  Eschatology,  pp.  304-6. 

2  Bentwich,  op.  cit.,  p.  160. 


TYPICAL  PRE-CHRISTIAN  HELLENISTIC  WORLD-VIEWS    15 

world  of  evil,  matter — each  in  conflict  with  the  other.  The  early  Persian 
dualism  had  two  hostile  worlds  led  by  the  evil  Ahriman  and  the  good 
Ormuzd  in  bitter  strife  which  was  ultimately  to  result  in  the  victory  of  the 
latter.  The  Gnostic  combined  the  higher  and  lower  dualistic  elements 
of  the  Hellenic  world-view  with  the  Persic  idea  of  the  two  hostile  worlds 
and  thus  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  matter  was  essentially  and 
eternally  evil,  with  escape  from  it  to  the  higher  world  of  the  spirit  as  the 
chief  aim  of  human  life.1 

Mythical  figures,  such  as  the  "Great  Mother"  figuring  in  the  Asian 
cults  as  the  mother-goddess  under  such  names  as  Astarte,  Beltis,  Atar- 
gatis,  Cybele,  and  the  "Primal  Man,"  the  Gayomart  of  the  Persic 
stories,  and  the  Son  of  Man  in  Jewish  Apocalypticism,  are  introduced  to 
assist  man  in  his  escape  from  the  evil  world.2  There  are  seven  angelic 
powers  transformed  from  the  seven  Babylonian  planetary  deities  or  from 
the  seven  good  spirits  or  "Angels"  of  Persism  which  control  the  lower 
spheres.  It  is  the  function  of  the  gnosis  to  provide  the  one  receiving  it 
with  intimate  knowledge  about  the  being,  nature,  and  names  of  these 
seven  in  order  that  the  soul  may  ascend  through  the  lower  realms 
guarded  by  them  and  at  last  reach  the  radiant  realm  of  the  supreme 
deity.3  Practically  the  Gnostic  world-view  worked  out  in  the  creation 
of  a  cultus  where  the  initiate  underwent  rites  of  purification  from  evil 
and  accepted  secret  instruction  for  the  safe  journey  to  heaven.  In 
conduct  the  idea  concerning  matter  as  inherently  evil  led  on  the  one 
hand  to  the  ascetic  ignoring  of  natural  functions,  or  on  the  other  hand 
to  indulgence  in  the  satisfaction  of  appetites  as  being  apart  from,  and 
lacking  significance  for,  the  welfare  of  the  soul.  It  is  in  the  assistance 
given  to  the  initiate  in  obtaining  salvation  that  the  world- view  of  the 
early  Gnostic  links  up  very  closely  with  the  thought  of  primitive  Chris- 
tianity. The  Christian  writers  were  able  to  replace  the  many  and  the 

1  See  W.  Bousset,  in  Enc.  Brit,  (nth  ed.),  pp.  153-59.    "Gnosticism  has  combined 
the  two,  the  Greek  opposition  between  spirit  and  matter,  and  the  sharp  Zoroastrian 
dualism,  which,  where  the  Greek  mind  conceived  of  a  higher  and  a  lower  world,  saw 
instead  two  hostile  worlds  standing  out  in  contrast  to  each  other  like  light  and  darkness. 
And  out  of  the  combination  of  these  two  dualisms  arose  the  teaching  of  Gnosticism, 
with  its  thoroughgoing  pessimism  and  fundamental  asceticism." — Op.  cit.,  p.  154. 

2  Wendland,  op.  cit., p.  176,  holds  that  Gnostic  religions  marked  a  reaction  against 
astral  religion.    The  Gnostic  religions  were  redemption-religions  which  furnished  to 
man  theurgic  instruments  by  the  use  of  which  he  might  break  the  fatalistic  bonds  of 
siderealism.     Cf.  Case,  "The  Study  of  Early  Christianity,"  in  G.  B.  Smith,  A  Guide  to 
the  Study  of  the  Christian  Religion,  p.  312. 

3  Case,  Evolution  of  Early  Christianity,  pp.  327-28. 


16  THE  WORLD-VIEW  OF  THE  FOURTH  GOSPEL 

mythical  salvation-procuring  agents  of  Gnosticism  with  the  one  and  the 
historical  person  of  Jesus.  Later  Gnostics  welcomed  this  fact  and  built 
up  their  own  world-views  about  it  and  their  own  interpretations  as  to 
the  nature  and  the  function  of  the  historical  figure.  In  due  recognition 
of  such  Gnostic  thought  the  Fourth  Gospel  is  put  forward.  The  varying 
interpretations  of  the  same  personage  in  Gnostic  speculation  has  its 
counterpart  within  the  Christian  group  and  is  due  in  both  instances  to 
the  change  of  world-view.  This  phenomenon  will  be  discussed  in 
detail  at  the  close  of  the  present  investigation. 


CHAPTER  II 
THE  JOHANNINE  UNIVERSE:  ITS  ORIGIN,  STRUCTURE,  AND  DESTINY 

It  is  to  be  expected  that  in  the  Fourth  Gospel  the  practical  religious 
purpose,  dominating  as  it  does  the  entire  structure,  would  express  itself 
in  language  and  thought-forms  amenable  to  the  popular  mind  of  the 
age  and  locality  to  which  it  brought  a  message.  In  this  the  Gospel 
is  of  a  piece  with  the  rest  of  the  New  Testament  literature.1  These  writ- 
ings spring  from  active  participation  in  the  life  of  the  time  rather  than 
from  continuous  and  profound  reflection  upon  the  ultimate  issues  of 
human  existence.  In  appealing  to  the  people  in  the  various  communi- 
ties verging  upon  the  Levant  the  Christian  evangel  took  for  its  vehicle 
the  modes  of  expression  then  operative  in  these  groups.  It  is  not  a 
matter  of  surprise,  therefore,  to  find  widely  disparate  elements  within 
the  collection  of  New  Testament  writings  or  even  within  the  limits  of  a 
single  book,  such  as  the  Fourth  Gospel. 

In  the  synoptic  productions  there  is  the  idea  of  the  Divine  Being 
similar  to  the  ®i\dv6 pwTros,  the  lover  of  man,  of  the  Book  of  Wisdom,  the 
one  who  makes  beneficent  provision  both  for  the  just  and  the  unjust.2 
Coupled  closely  with  this  is  the  radically  different  notion  of  a  divine 
being  who  can  sweep  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  with  all  their  hapless  folk 
into  a  terrible  conflagration  and,  worse  still,  who  can  calmly  prepare 
eternal  fire  with  which  to  torture  the  wretched  souls  of  his  own  creating.3 
In  the  letters  of  Paul  is  found  the  statement  that  judgment  comes  after 
the  cessation  of  physical  activity,  with  the  inference  that  the  earthly 
life  provides  the  only  opportunity  of  so  acting  as  to  avert  the  coming 
wrath  and  win  eternal  happiness.  On  the  other  hand  Peter  allows  for 
repentance — preaching  to  those  who  have  passed  beyond  the  confines  of 
this  life,  making  Christ  the  bearer  of  the  message.4  In  the  first  three 
Gospels  the  soul  and  the  spirit  of  man  are  practically  synonymous.  The 
soul  of  man  survives  the  decease  of  the  body  and  goes  to  either  the  blest 
or  the  unblest  section  of  Hades,  the  intermediate  abode  of  the  departed 

1  Deissman,  Light  from  the  Ancient  East,  pp.  238-46. 

2  Wisdom  1:6;   7:23,  25;  Matt.  5:45;  Luke  6:35. 

3  Matt.  11:23,  24;   13:41,42,50;  Luke  16:23,  24;   17:19. 

4  Rom.  2:5-10;  I  Pet.  4:19. 


i8  THE  WORLD-VIEW  OF  THE  FOURTH  GOSPEL 

spirits.1  In  Paul  the  soul  is  the  vital  principle  of  all  flesh  (crdpg)2  and  is 
never  conceived  by  him  as  the  bearer  of  a  higher  spiritual  life.  It  is  the 
spirit  (irvev/xa),  renewed,  recreated,  which  makes  man  spiritual  (Vvcv/aaTi- 
KO'S),  and  which,  with  the  death  of  the  body,  departs  "to  be  forever  with 
the  Lord."  The  apostle  Paul  could  describe  the  imminent  new  age  and 
its  inception  in  such  graphic  language  as  that  in  his  first  letter  to  the 
converts  to  Christianity  at  Thessalonica :  "For  the  Lord  himself  shall 
descend  from  heaven,  with  a  shout,  with  the  voice  of  the  archangel,  and 
with  the  trump  of  God :  and  the  dead  in  Christ  shall  rise  first :  then  we 
that  are  alive,  that  are  left,  shall  together  with  them  be  caught  up  in  the 
clouds,  to  meet  the  Lord  in  the  air:  and  so  shall  we  be  ever  with  the 
Lord."  In  the  Synoptic  Gospels  these  pictures  of  an  imminent  cata- 
clysmic world-end  and  world-renewal  are  very  frequent.  Yet  along 
with  these  are  put  forward  suggestions  that  link  up  very  closely  with  the 
Gospel  of  a  new  order  which  slowly  and  gradually  develops  out  of  the 
work  inaugurated  by  the  first  Christian  group. 

Similar  phenomena  are  met  in  an  examination  of  the  set  of  ideas  func- 
tioning in  the  Fourth  Gospel.  The  rich  variety  investing  popular 
parlance  would  appear  to  be  reflected  in  the  many  meanings  for  KOO>U>? 
throughout  the  book.  The  use  of  this  word  to  denote  the  "world- 
order"  or  "universe,"  terms  entirely  alien  to  the  Jewish  mind3  as  such 
while  common  property  of  the  Greeks  from  Pythagoras  down  to  the 
later  Stoics,4  finds  some  place  here.5  Another  meaning  for  it  is  the 
"earth,"  this  occurring  rarely.6  Many  times  "cosmos"  is  applied  to 
the  human  race.7  The  flexibility  of  this  term  renders  it  able  to  describe 
a  large  group  of  people,8  or  to  suggest  what  in  modern  nomenclature 
is  called  "the  public."9  The  prevailing  function  of  the  word  "cosmos" 

JMark  9:47;  Matt.  5:22,  29!.;  10:28;  Luke  12:5;  16:23;  cf.  I  Enoch  22 
(Charles,  Apocrypha  and  Pseudepigrapha  of  the  Old  Testament,  II,  202). 

2  Full  discussion  by  E.  D.  Burton,  American  Journal  of  Theology,  July,  1916. 

3  The  LXX  of  the  Old  Testament  has  the  word,  but  only  in  its  earlier  meaning  of 
"adornment,"  or  as  a  rendering  of  XZIE  "host,"  (Gen.  4:  i;  Deut.  4: 19,  etc.):  while 
7*39  and  bill?  are  there  translated  by  yrj  and  diKov^vij.     In  Wisdom  and  II  Macca- 
bees it  frequently  occurs  as  a  name  for  the  material  universe.     Stanton,  HBD,  IV, 
p.  938. 

4  Arnold,  op.  cit.,  p.  170,  notes;  cf.  Plutarch  De  plac.  philos.  iii.  i. 
s  John  17:5,  24. 

6 John  11:9;   21:25. 

'  John  1:10,  29;  3:16  f.;  6:33,  51;  8:26;  12:47;  13:1;  14:31;  16:28;  17:6,  21,  23. 

8  John  12: 19.  9  John  7:4;  18:20. 


THE  JOHANNINE  UNIVERSE  19 

in  the  Fourth  Gospel,  while  cognate  with  those  so  far  listed,  moves  out 
from  these  into  the  realm  of  religious  speculation  which  dominates 
the  entire  message.  It  is  in  this  connection  that  the  bias  of  the  writer 
appears.  The  cosmos  signifies  for  him  as  a  Christian  preacher  mainly 
the  universe  built  up  of  ideas  or  personal  attitudes  visited  vainly  by  the 
revelation  of  the  Logos  so  miraculously  exhibited  in  the  person  of  Jesus.1 
Although  the  various  connotations  of  the  word  "cosmos"  in  the 
Fourth  Gospel  show  the  freedom  with  which  the  term  comes  into  play, 
as  also  the  danger  of  giving  loose  rein  to  a  theory  attached  to  its  function,2 
there  exist  throughout  the  book  references  suggesting  a  general  view  of 
the  universe,  its  origin,  structure,  and  destiny.  The  cosmos  in  this 
sense  had  a  definite  beginning,  as  the  introductory  passage  shows.  The 
same  event  is  hinted  at  in  the  description  of  the  "father"  of  evil  as  a 
manslayer  "from  the  beginning."  In  the  argument  of  the  erstwhile 
blind  man  the  expression  eK  rot)  euwvos  seems  to  indicate  the  earliest 
stage  of  the  present  world-order,  although  in  agreement  with  a  common 
New  Testament  use  of  6  aiwv  it  may  merely  express  duration  of  time.3 
The  termination  of  the  universe  plays  a  minor  part  in  the  message  of  the 
book.  A  last  day  appears  rarely  and  then  only  in  close  connection  with 
material  reflecting  Jewish4  or  Jewish-Christian5  ideas.  Even  this  the 
author  overlays  with  a  mystical  representation  utterly  devoid  of  temporal 
or  somatic  significance.6  The  Logos  appears  in  the  prologue  as  the 
agent  through  whose  activity  the  whole  world  comes  into  being.  The 
atmosphere  of  such  Jewish  creation  stories  as  are  recorded  in  the  Old 
Testament  is  absent  from  this  representation.7  In  the  Wisdom  of 
Solomon  and  in  Philo8  the  divine  being  employs  Wisdom  or  Logos  in 
creative  operations,  but  maintains  a  more  or  less  predominant  place 
throughout.  The  author  of  the  Wisdom  of  Solomon  is  able  to  see  in 
Wisdom  the  "artificer  of  all  things,"  and  a  like  function  is  accorded  the 

JJohni:ii;    7:7;    14:22-24;    15:18-25;    16:8,  20;    17:14-18. 

2  Westcott  avers  that  the  Attic  notion  of  "order"  in  the  word  "cosmos"  colors 
thoroughly  its  appearance  in  the  Fourth  Gospel  (Westcott,  St.  John,  I,  64).     Stanton 
as  against  this  states  that  the  world  as  viewed  by  the  New  Testament  writers  generally 
is  a  realm,  not  of  order,  but  of  grave  disorder  (HBD,  IV,  939). 

3  John  i:  i;  8:44;  9:32.    Cf.  E.  D.  Burton,  Lecture  notes,  unpublished. 

4  John  5: 21 ;   11:24. 

s  John  5:25,  28;  6:39. 

6  John  8:51;  5:24. 

7  The  J  and  E  narratives  in  Gen.  chaps,  i  and  2. 
sWisdomi:i4;  6:7;  9:1;  9:9;  cf.  8:4,  5;   7:22.    Philo  Laws  Hi.  73. 


20  THE  WORLD-VIEW  OF  THE  FOURTH  GOSPEL 

Logos  by  the  Fourth  Gospel.  In  the  prologue  at  least  the  divine  being 
is  only  remotely  related  to  the  world  enterprise.  It  is  the  Logos  as  the 
creator,  the  bearer  of  "life"  and  "light,"  that  commands  the  author's 
attention. 

The  language  in  this  part  of  the  book  betrays  the  genetic  sources  from 
which  the  author  derived  his  creational  concepts.  Writing  a  half-century 
prior  to  the  appearance  of  the  Fourth  Gospel  a  representative  of  later 
Stoicism  discusses  the  beginnings  of  the  universe  in  a  style  closely  allied 
to  that  of  the  evangelist.1  In  a  similar  inquiry  Aristotle  had  outlined 
four  causes  of  the  world's  existence,  namely,  efficient,  material,  modal, 
and  final.  In  the  last  analysis  the  creator  embodies  for  Aristotle  the 
efficient,  modal,  and  final  causes  in  his  own  nature,  leaving  the  material 
cause  or  "substance"  (vXr/)  as  matter  inherently  capable  of  receiving 
the  form  imposed  upon  it  by  the  creator.  In  criticism  of  this  view 
Seneca  argues  that  the  multiplicity  or  duality  of  causes  introduced  by 
the  Stagirite  do  not  form  a  series  of  independent  causes,  but  are  all 
variations  of  a  single  cause  which  can  be  called  "the  maker."2  The 
first  cause  of  the  earlier  philosophy,  upon  which  both  Plato  and  Aristotle 
had  been  in  virtual  agreement,  and  the  Logos  of  Heraclitean  ancestry 
are  in  this  later  Stoicism  identified  and,  as  such,  minister  to  first-century 
creation  theories  such  as  that  in  the  Fourth  Gospel.3  These  formed 
the  common  property  of  thinkers  in  Hellenistic  circles  and  must  have 
been  familiar  to  those  who  first  received  the  message  of  the  evangelist. 
Expressions  like  £vrj,  <££$,  and  /zovoyevijs4  figure  frequently  in  those  repre- 
sentations which  embody  features  familiar  both  to  the  Hellenistic 
philosopher  and  to  the  unlettered,  rustic  initiate  of  a  mystery  religion. 
In  the  religious  societies  (thiasi  or  orgeones),  to  whose  life  the  Orphic 
hymns  ministered  in  pre-Christian  times,  the  descriptive  epithets 
/novvoycVeta5  and  <£o<j<£opos  are  applied  to  Persephone,  the  female  appear- 

1  Seneca  Ep.  65.  4-6,  u,  12. 

2  See  Arnold,  op.  cit.,  pp.  60,  162,  for  discussion. 

3  The  Aristotelian  "matter"  is  repudiated  by  the  Stoics,  and  in  its  place  is  postu- 
lated "body"  (corpus)  which  does  not  have  the  passivity  of  "matter,"  but  is  of  the 
same  essential  stuff  as  the  first  cause,  or  the  creator,     "cui  tanta  vis  est,  ut  impellat  et 
cogat  et  retineat  et  iubeat,  corpus  est." — Sen.  Ep.  106.  9.    Arnold,  op.  cit.,  p.  157,  note. 

4  John  1:4  ff.,  14. 

s  "The  epithet  cannot  imply  that  she  (Persephone)  was  his  (Zeus's)  only  daughter, 
as  he  had  other  daughters  among  the  Homeric  gods,  such  as  Athena  and  Aphrodite, 
but  rather  that  she  was  'unique,'  or  one  of  a  kind.  The  mistaking  of  the  word  M.OVO- 
yevf)*  for  fMvoy^wtjTos  by  Jewish  and  Christian  writers  has  led  to  much  confusion." — 
Legge.  Forerunners  and  Rivals  of  Christianity  y  I,  124,  note. 


THE  JOHANNINE  UNIVERSE  21 

ance  of  the  bisexual  Dionysos  to  whom  these  pre-Christian  Gnostics 
attributed  the  creation  of  the  universe.  The  Jewish  writers  of  this 
period  are  fond  of  using  similar  terms.  The  Apocalyptists  equate 
"life"  with  "light"  and  "darkness"  with  "death,"  giving  them  the 
religious  significance  which  attaches  to  their  appearance  in  the  Fourth 
Gospel.1  These  are  favorite  categories  in  the  Synoptic  Gospels,  where 
"light"  is  constantly  set  over  against  "darkness"  in  a  religious  sense.2 
In  the  Pauline  letters  is  found  a  like  usage.3  The  early  Christian 
teaching  with  respect  to  the  "two  ways"  which  came  into  such  promi- 
nence in  extra  New  Testament  literature  produced  by  the  leaders  of  that 
time  embody  elements  exhibiting  this  tradition.4  The  Johannine 
representation  is  of  the  same  texture  as  all  this  Hellenistic  creation 
material.  In  it  the  categories  of  "light"  and  "darkness,"  "life"  and 
"death,"  "truth"  and  "error,"  assume  a  place  perhaps  more  prominent 
than  is  granted  to  them  in  any  other  section  of  early  Christian  literature.5 
The  statement  has  been  made  that  in  the  doctrine  of  beginnings 
according  to  the  Fourth  Gospel  the  earlier  Jewish  predominance  of  the 
"Father"  as  the  one  creative  being  tends  to  recede  before  the  activity 
of  the  Logos.  The  first  movement  of  this  is  seen  in  Philo,  IV  Maccabees, 
and  the  Wisdom  of  Solomon.6  Within  the  New  Testament  the  tendency 
shows  itself  plainly.  In  the  Pauline  letters  of  the  earlier  period  God 
is  the  First  Cause,  from  whom  all  things  come  and  to  whom  all  things 
ultimately  return.7  In  the  Apocalypse  of  John,  God  occupies  the  entire 
stage  in  the  creation  of  the  universe.  In  the  letter  to  the  Colossians 
the  "  Son  "  is  included  in  the  category  of  things  created.  He  is  TTPOUTOTOKOS 
Trcunjs  KTto-ews.8  Although  he  is  not  identified  with  God,9  as  in  the  Pro- 
logue of  the  Fourth  Gospel,  there  is  the  same  dominant  function  accorded 

1  Secrets  of  Enoch  30 115;  cf.  7:1;  8:8;  10:2;  Apoc.  of  Baruch  (Syriac)  18:1-12; 
IV  Ezra  7:48,  126. 

2 Matt.  4:16;  5:14-16;  6:22,23;  Luke  2:32;  16:8;  Mark  9:3. 

31001.4:5;  II  Cor.  4:4-6;  IThess.  5:5-8;  Rom.  13:12,  et  al 

4  *05oi  §1/0  elffi,  fjila  TT/S  fwijj  Ka.1  fj.la  rov  davdrov,  5ia.(popa  8£  Tro\\i)  fjL€ra£v  rQiv  8vo 
oSuv. — Didache  1:1.  'OSol  8vo  ffolv  SiSax?)*  Kal  ^lovcrfas,  $  re  rov  0wr6s  Kal  ff  rov 
<r/c6rous.  8ta<j>oira  S£  ITO\\TJ  rQv  Svo  68&v. — Epistle  of  Barnabas  18:  i  b. 

s  John  1:4,  7-9;  3:10-21;  5:35;  8:12;  9:5;   11:9;   12:35  ff. 

6  In  extra-Palestinian  Judaism  the  Logos  idea  was  "a  modification  of  intuitive 
and  naive  monotheism." — Bentwich,  op.  cit.,  p.  145. 

'I  Cor.  8:1;  Eph.  3:9. 

8  Col.  1:15,  16. 

9 Stated  baldly,  the  Logos  is  declared  to  be  of  "God-stuff." 


22  THE  WORLD-VIEW  OF  THE  FOURTH  GOSPEL 

him  in  the  creating  of  the  world.  In  Hebrews  the  "Son"  is  the  one 
"through  whom"  God  "made  the  worlds,"  and  by  whose  power  "all 
things  are  upheld,"  but,1  unlike  the  thought  of  Colossians,  it  is  God  the 
Father  "for  whom  are  all  things  and  through  whom  are  all  things."2 
Here  too  the  language  of  the  Genesis  narratives  and  of  the  later  Jewish 
creation  stories  is  brought  into  the  description  of  the  creative  act,  the 
worlds  being  "framed  by  the  spoken  word  of  God."3  Jewish- Christian 
theories  of  the  place  of  Jesus  in  a  pre-worldly  divine  economy  on  the  one 
hand  and  Stoic  creational  teachings  on  the  other  mark  the  path  by  which 
the  Christianity  represented  by  the  Fourth  Gospel  arrived  at  its  view  of 
the  beginnings  of  the  universe.  Paul  refers  to  "  Christ  Jesus"  as  having 
in  his  existence  prior  to  the  earthly  life  a  place  on  equal  terms  with  God, 
and  as  appearing  in  the  world  of  men  in  the  guise  of  a  "wisdom  from 
God."^  The  evangelist  unites  the  "  Christ  Jesus  "  of  the  Christian  tradi- 
tion to  which  Paul  had  access  with  the  then  widespread  Logos  theories 
of  the  Stoics,  and  is  able  to  state  emphatically  that  the  Logos  was  in  the 
beginning  of  the  same  nature  as  God,  creating  the  universe,  and  at  last 
issued  in  unique  plenitude  in  "  Jesus  Christ."  The  "  Father-God  "  of  the 
Jew  assumes  the  function  of  the  Stoic  "world-soul"5  and  Jesus  Christ,  the 
Logos-filled  person,  commands  the  entire  attention  as  the  one  medium 
through  which  all  things  came  into  being.6  That  such  is  the  true  char- 
acter of  the  Johannine  cosmic  theories  is  evident  from  the  attitude  of 
the  Christian  writers  succeeding  the  first  Hellenistic  propagandists  of 
the  new  religion.  They  regarded  the  Stoic  Logos  doctrine  as  anticipa- 
tory of  Christian  teaching,  and  Justin  was  persuaded  that  all  Logos 
believers  were  intrinsically  adherents  of  Christianity.7 

The  structure  of  the  universe  reflected  in  the  Fourth  Gospel  is  de- 
scribed in  popular  language  and  falls  into  three  sections,  "things  above," 
things  existent  upon  the  earth  and  within  temporal  limitations,  and 
"things  below."  The  "Spirit"  descends  from  heaven  at  the  baptism 
of  Jesus.8  Nathanael  is  promised  a  sight  of  heaven  opened  and  "the 

THeb.  1:2,  3,  10. 
2Heb.  2:10. 

*Heb.  11:3,  ^/J-ciTi  6fov. 
^  Phil.  2:6;  I  Cor.  1:30. 

5  John  6:44;  cf.  Arnold,  op.  cit.,  pp.  218,  219,  240. 

6  John  1:3,9,  IO>  J4>  X8. 

7  ol  /xerd  \6yov  pittxravres  xPlffriav0^  €^fft  K&v  &fao<-  tvofdff6-r)ffav. — Justin  Martyr 
A pol.  i.  46;  cf.  Arnold,  op.  cit.,  pp.  432,  note;  cf.  pp.  149  ff. 

8  John  1:32. 


THE  JOHANNINE  UNIVERSE  23 

angels  of  God  ascending  and  descending  upon  the  Son  of  man."1  The 
author  has  Jesus  assure  Nicodemus  that  "no  man  has  ascended  to 
heaven  but  he  that  came  down  from  heaven."2  At  the  conclusion  of  this 
episode,  in  material  closely  resembling  editorial  comment,  the  phrases 
"from  heaven"  and  "from  above"  are  given  identical  meaning.3  In 
answer  to  the  prayer  of  Jesus  on  the  day  of  the  entry  into  Jerusalem  a 
voice  came  from  heaven.  This  was  explained  by  some  bystanders  as 
thunder,  by  others  as  the  utterance  of  an  angel,  but  by  the  author  of  the 
Gospel  as  the  voice  of  God.4  In  the  record  of  the  last  extended  conversa- 
tion which  Jesus  had  with  his  close  followers  the  popular  representation 
of  "  things  above  "  stands  out  unmistakably.  Jesus  is  reported  as  saying 
that  there  are  many  dwelling-places  in  the  house  of  "the  Father,"  and 
that  in  leaving  the  earth  his  object  is  to  see  that  one  of  these  is  set  apart 
for  each  of  his  disciples.5  This  higher  realm  in  its  relation  to  the  lower 
and  earthly  region  exercises  supreme  authority,  for  the  author  sees  in 
the  representative  of  the  most  powerful  political  organization  a  mere 
instrument  in  the  carrying  out  of  purposes  initiated  above  in  the  heavenly 
counsels.6  The  close  of  the  earthly  ministry  of  Jesus  is  explained  suffi- 
ciently for  the  author  in  the  statement  that  he  has  ascended  to  assume  a 
permanent  place  in  the  higher  realm  with  God,  the  "Father."7  Accord- 
ing to  the  world- view  of  the  Fourth  Gospel  it  is  this  higher  sphere — far 
above  all  limitations  of  space  and  time,  remote  from  evil  earthly  associa- 
tions, and  dominating  all  things  else,  which  for  a  time  expressed  itself 
completely  in  the  person  and  work  of  "Jesus  Christ,"  whose  life  was 
Logos-filled— to  whose  eternal  and  divine  economy  became  united  all 
who  received  a  like  influx  of  the  Logos  through  belief  in  the  miraculous 
endowment  of  the  Man  of  Nazareth.8 

Beneath  the  upper  heavenly  territory  of  the  Johannine  universe 
stretches  the  lower  earthly  sphere.  This  material  world  with  all  its 
inhabitants  is  the  result  of  the  primal  creative  activity.  It  is  under- 
stood as  resting  on  definite  foundations.9  From  the  beginning,  accord- 
ing to  the  author,  the  Logos,  unperceived  by  mankind,  permeated  the 
world.  Only  when  it  issued  in  striking  individual  quantity  and  quality 
in  the  person  of  Jesus  did  recognition  come.  Even  then  such  recogni- 
tion was  far  from  universal.10  As  the  light  of  the  sun  to  the  physical 

1  John  1:51.  6  John  19:11. 

3  John  3: 13.  'John  20: 17. 

3  John  3: 31.  8Johni:i8;  3:3,6,31-36;  5:24;  6:54,  et  al. 

4  John  12:28.  9  John  1 7 : 24. 

5  John  14:2.  "John  1:4-12. 


24  THE  WORLD-VIEW  OF  THE  FOURTH  GOSPEL 

universe,  so  was  the  entrance  of  the  Logos  in  the  earthly  work  of  Jesus 
among  men.1  The  purpose  of  his  coming  was  to  "  save  the  world."2  He 
left  the  earthly  existence  in  order  that  the  Logos 'might  enjoy  a  wider 
sweep  in  the  spreading  of  the  disciples  with  their  new  message.3  With 
the  history  of  the  limited  success  of  this  message  behind  him  and  in  acute 
awareness  of  bitter  enmity  toward  it,  especially  on  the  part  of  the  Jews, 
the  writer  of  the  Fourth  Gospel  acknowledges  that  the  "salvation" 
brought  by  Jesus  has  not  reached  and  commanded  universal  attention 
and  allegiance.  This  carries  him  out  into  a  view  of  the  present  order 
as  ephemeral,  corrupt,  and  hostile  to  divine  activity  with  which  he  identi- 
fies all  who  oppose  the  preaching  of  Jesus  as  the  bearer  of  the  new  life. 
This  classification  obliterates  all  others.  Although  through  the  Jewish 
race  came  the  Logos,4  members  of  that  race  refusing  the  claims  of  Jesus 
remain  lost  in  the  world-darkness.5  Blood  brothers  of  Jesus  occupy 
this  sphere  of  hostility  because  they  do  not  "believe  in  him."6  The 
disciples  learn  that  they  are  to  be  hated  by  "  the  world  "  even  as  had  been 
their  Master.7  It  is  in  this  connection  that  Christians  are  denied  the 
evil  nature  which  joins  those  who  are  non- Christians  by  choice  with 
the  present  temporal  order.  The  disciples  are  not  to  be  removed  from 
the  world,  but  to  be  protected  from  the  malign  influence  which  it  exercises 
upon  its  inhabitants.8  So  real  even  within  the  sphere  of  the  temporal  and 
physical  does  this  universe  of  unbelief  become  for  the  writer  that  he  can 
speak  of  Jesus  as  having  severed  himself  from,  and  having  overcome,  its 
presence  and  its  power  even  prior  to  his  casting  off  the  earthly  body.9 
This  operation  of  the  Logos  is  to  be  even  more  successful  through  the 
work  of  the  disciples  in  telling  of  its  appearance  in  the  life  of  their 
Lord.10 

In  spite  of  this  gleam  of  hope  in  the  wider  and  more  efficient  activity 
of  the  Logos,  or  the  "spirit,"  in  the  lives  of  the  scattered  disciples  the 
thought  of  the  Johannine  writer  concerning  the  earth  and  its  occupants 
is  shrouded  for  the  most  part  in  deepest  gloom.  The  phrase  "this 
world"  implies  darkness  and  defeat  and  death  for  all  who  belong  to  it, 
namely,  all  who  deny  the  Logos  doctrine  embodied  in  the  author's  view 
of  Jesus'  career."  What  Paul  classifies  as  "sarcical"12  and  attached  to 

1  John  8:12;  9:5;   12:46.  7Johni5:i8;  17:14. 

2  John  12:47.  8  John  17:7,  12. 

3  John  14: 12.  9  John  17:11  ff. 
*  John  4: 22.                                                  I0  John  14: 12. 

s  John  12:35,  36.  "John  3:16-19,  36. 

6  John  7: 8.  "I  Cor.  10:3. 


THE  JOE  ANN  IN E  UNIVERSE  25 

this  "age"1  this  writer  puts  in  the  category  of  " things  in  the  world"  or 
in  "this  world,"  giving  to  the  term  a  moral  significance  rare  in  the  other 
Gospels,  but  found  more  frequently  in  the  Pauline  letters.2  According 
to  the  Fourth  Gospel  the  paramount  interest  of  Jesus  and  his  followers 
is  to  impart  a  new  gnosis,  possessing  power  to  release  humanity  from 
the  obsession  of  present  temporal  conditions  even  while  remaining  in 
contact  with  them.  This  imparted  knowledge  will  save  all  who  receive 
and  utilize  it  from  the  destruction  attendant  upon  those  whose  life  is 
dominated  by  the  sphere  of  temporal  affairs.3 

If  the  upper  and  heavenly,  as  over  against  the  lower  and  earthly, 
areas  appear  clearly  in  the  ethical  world-view  of  the  evangelist,  no  less 
so  stands  out  the  sphere  of  the  subterrene.  From  above  descend 
"light,"  "truth,"  and  "life."  From  below  rise  "darkness,"  "error" 
and  "  death."4  Direct  reference  to  the  three  distinct  areas  is  made  where 
Jesus  is  recorded  as  saying  to  the  hostile  Pharisees,  "Ye  are  from  beneath; 
I  am  from  above;  ye  are  of  this  world;  I  am  not  of  this  world."5  In 
the  same  discourse  those  who  are  deaf  to  the  new  message  learn 
that  they  are  of  their  "father,  the  devil."6  The  "Father  of  love" 
inhabits  the  higher  realm,  dispatching  his  messengers  to  earth  in  order 
that  humanity  may  know  a  life  of  spiritual  unity  with  him  through  his 
all-pervasive  Logos,  or  "spirit  of  truth."  The  "Father  of  hate" 
inhabits  the  lower  realm,  sending  his  messengers  to  lead  men  into  a 
life  apart  from  unity  with  God  through  his  all-pervasive  spirit  of  error.7 
So  potent  is  the  influence  of  the  latter  in  his  malignant  activity  that  he 
wears  a  title  signifying  domination  over  the  affairs  of  "this  world."8 
In  the  view  of  the  Johannine  writer  there  is  a  constant  clashing  of  forces 
between  the  spirit  of  the  overworld  and  the  spirit  of  the  underworld.  In 
this  conflict  there  can  be  no  truce.  It  is  evident  to  the  author  that  the 
sinister  sway  of  the  subterrene  spirit  extends  over  the  entire  structure 
of  the  earthly  interuniverse,  darkening  the  minds  of  men  everywhere, 
arousing  opposition  on  every  side  to  the  beneficent  enterprises  of  a 
loving  God,  and  overshadowing  human  life  on  all  sides  with  a  pessimistic 

1  Rom.  12:2;  I  Cor.  1:20;   2:6;  8:3,18;  II  Cor.  4:4;  Gal.  1:4. 

2  Only  in  Matt.  5:14;   13:38;   18:7;   26:13;  Rom.  3:19;  I  Cor.  1:21,  et  al. 

3  John  8:  23  ff.;   14:235.;   16:135.;   17:8  ff. 

4 John  1:5;  3:19;  5:24-26;  6:50-58;  8:i2fL;  9:39. 
s  John  8:23. 

6  John  8:44. 

7  John  15: 18,  19. 

8  6  dpxwv  TOV  K6fffjLov}  John  12:31;   14:30;   16:11. 


26  THE  WORLD-VIEW  OF  THE  FOURTH  GOSPEL 

antisocial  gloom.1  Yet  in  the  historical  moment  represented  by  the  life 
and  work  of  Jesus  the  forces  of  light  and  truth  win  such  a  victory  that 
for  his  followers  hope  is  born.  Jesus  can  hearten  them  with  the  sursum 
corda:  "In  the  world  ye  shall  have  tribulation:  but  be  of  good  cheer; 
I  have  overcome  the  world."  The  struggle  still  continues.  The 
temporal  existence  remains  under  the  control  of  the  lower  evil  spirit. 
A  battle  is  won  by  the  heaven-sent  Logos-equipped  champion,  but  the 
war  continues  with  unabated  energy,  victory  coming  only  to  those  who 
in  accepting  the  Logos  doctrine  as  taught  by  his  followers  receive  on 
their  part  a  similar  Logos  armature. 

The  triple  division  of  the  universe  in  the  Fourth  Gospel  is  the  com- 
mon property  of  the  Hellenistic  peoples  to  which  the  book  brought  its 
appeal.2  The  crude  imagery  of  many  of  their  world-pictures  fails  to  find 
a  place  in  its  Christian  philosophy,  yet  the  underlying  tripartite  implica- 
tions remain  unchanged.  For  the  Hebrews,  cosmological  speculation 
moved  forward  out  of  the  mythology  of  the  Tigris-Euphrates  Valley. 
The  popular  Semite  myths  tell  how  Marduk,  the  chieftain  of  the  gods, 
after  long  and  doubtful  battle  marshaled  the  sevenfold  wind  and  con- 
quered Tiamat,  the  raging  spirit  of  the  abyss.  This  done,  he  split  up  the 
fallen  foe,  making  a  covering  for  heaven  to  hold  up  the  waters  of  the  sky 
and  a  covering  for  earth  to  restrain  the  waters  of  the  great  abyss.3  In 
Hebrew  mythology  as  reflected  in  the  Old  Testament  are  found  the  same 
elements.  The  firmament  is  extended  throughout  the  spaces  of  the 
upper  air  and  rests  upon  pillars.4  Above  it  the  waters  are  held  up  by  the 
clouds.5  This  firmament  is  provided  with  windows  (or  doors)  by  means 
of  which  the  rain  is  allowed  to  descend  upon  the  earth.6  Beneath  the 
sky  and  over  the  sea  or  abyss  is  stretched  the  earth  as  a  place  of  habita- 
tion for  man  and  other  living  creatures.7  Below  the  earth  is  the  abyss, 

xjohn  1:5;  3:195.;  12:355.  In  the  Johannine  letters  generally  ascribed 
to  the  author  of  the  Fourth  Gospel,  the  pessimistic  note  respecting  the  present  order 
of  things  is  struck  even  more  sharply  (I  John  2:11,  15-17;  3: 14  ff.;  5- 19)- 

2  In  the  Paris  Magical  Papyrus  of  300  A.D.  and  in  Attic  magical  texts  of  the 
third  and  fourth  century  B.C.  reference  is  made  to  "binding"  a  human  being  "in 
fellowship  with"  Hecate,  or  the  Erinyes,  or  Hermes,  who  are  said  to  be  "below  the 
earth."    This  shows  the  wide  sweep  in  popular  usage  of  sub  terrene  malignity  (cf. 
A.  Deissman,  op.  cit.,  pp.  254,  305,  307). 

3  "Enuma  ElisV'— A.  Deimel  (trans,  by  C.  W.  King,  Tablets  of  Creation,  IV,  42  ff.). 
See  also  Cuneiform  Parallels  to  Old  Testament,  R.  W.  Rogers. 

4  Job  26:11;  37:18.  s  job.  26:8. 

6  Gen.  yfn;  II  Kings  7:2,  19:  Ps.  78:23;  Mai.  3:10. 

7  Gen.  7:11;  49-25;  Deut.  33:13;  Pss.  42:7;  78:15. 


THE  JOHANNINE  UNIVERSE  27 

wherein  monsters  still  exist  to  threaten  the  safety  of  mankind.    These 
only  God  can  hold  in  subjection.1 

In  the  Mediterranean  world  of  early  Christianity  similar  myths 
still  obtained.  The  popular  mind  conceived  the  earth  as  set  between 
the  upper  and  the  lower  spheres  with  man  in  the  central  plane,  the 
constant  recipient  of  influences  benignant  from  above  and  malignant 
from  below.  On  the  part  of  Jewish  thinkers  there  is  a  tendency  to 
speculate  upon  the  upper  region  and  divide  it  into  various  sections,  each 
with  its  characteristic  features  and  inhabitants,  some  of  which  latter 
entertain  evil  designs  toward  man.  The  seven  heavens  of  the  first- 
century  Secrets  of  Enoch  and  the  earlier  Testaments  of  the  Twelve 
Patriarchs  are  witnesses  to  this  movement.2  In  the  Letter  to  the 
Ephesians  is  found  a  world-view  suggesting  the  threefold  division  with 
which  is  included  a  plurality  of  heavens.  There  Christ  is  declared  to 
have  "descended  into  the  lower  parts  of  the  earth"  and  afterward 
to  have  "ascended  far  above  all  the  heavens."3  In  this  letter  also  the 
leader  of  evil  spirits  is  called  "the  prince  of  the  power  of  the  air,"  and 
the  hosts  under  his  control  are  "world-rulers  of  this  darkness"  whose 
dwelling  is  in  the  "heavenly"  regions.4  Certainly  Paul  knew  of  a  third 
heaven,  and  when  alluding  to  this  in  the  Corinthian  letter  he  uses  lan- 
guage that  links  the  conception  with  the  "Paradise"  located  in  the  third 
heaven  by  the  writers  of  II  Enoch  and  the  Assumption  of  Moses.5  The 
"tree  of  life"  in  the  paradise  sketched  by  the  writer  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment Apocalypse  is  exactly  paralleled  in  the  Enoch  Apocalypse,6  while 
the  "river  of  life"  which  the  writer  of  Revelation  saw  "proceeding  out 
of  the  throne  of  God  and  of  the  Lamb  in  the  midst  of  the  street  thereof" 
is  divided  by  the  Enoch  author  into  its  four  streams  mentioned  in  the  Eden 
picture  of  the  Genesis  cosmogony.7  Indeed  the  New  Testament  Apoca- 
lyptist  himself  can  also  speak  of  the  "fountains  of  waters  of  life"  toward 
which  "the  Lamb  that  is  in  the  midst  of  the  throne"  shall  lead  those 
"that  came  out  of  the  great  tribulation."8 

JIsa.  27:1;  Job.  26:13. 

2  R.  H.  Charles,  Apoc.  and  Pseud.,  pp.  282-367,  425-569. 

3  Eph.  4:9,  10. 

4  Eph.  6: 12. 

s  II  Cor.  12:4.    See  also  H.  St.  J.  Thackeray,  Relation  of  St.  Paul  to  Contemporary 
Jewish  Thought,  p.  173. 

6  Rev.  2:7;   22:1,2;   II  Enoch  8:3. 

7  Rev.  22:1,  2;  II  Enoch  9:  2;  Gen.  2:10  ff. 

8  Rev.  7:14-17. 


28  THE  WORLD-VIEW  OF  THE  FOURTH  GOSPEL 

Paul  is  very  definite  with  respect  to  the  control  of  the  present  order 
by  the  forces  of  evil,  and  their  leader  is  a  dark  and  terrible  reality  in  all 
his  thinking.  He  is  the  "god  of  this  world"  who  blinds  men  to  the  light 
of  the  gospel.1  He  sets  snares  for  the  unwary  in  sexual  relations.  Paul 
appears  to  go  so  far  as  to  regard  procreative  activities  and  race  per- 
petuation as  a  special  province  of  Satanic  ordering  to  be  avoided  as 
far  as  possible  by  those  who  had  received  the  "Christ-spirit."2  The 
apostle  himself  confesses  to  being  harassed  by  an  "angel  of  Satan."3 
Yet  for  Paul  as  for  the  writer  of  the  Fourth  Gospel  the  outlook,  gloomy  as 
it  is  for  man  in  the  present  "evil  age,"  is  made  tolerable  to  all  who 
through  the  influx  of  the  divine  spirit  of  Christ  receive  power  to  resist 
the  influence  of  the  lower  world  and  the  promise  of  final  victory  over 
Satan  and  his  satellites. 

Although  Seneca  and  the  later  Stoics,  unlike  the  New  Testament 
writers  and  the  Jewish  Apocalyptists,  give  no  place  in  the  world-view 
to  a  malignant  spirit  of  the  underworld  opposing  the  spirit  of  God  in 
the  life  of  man  upon  the  earthly  plane,  behind  their  thinking  lies 
the  philosophical  presupposition  of  the  plane  of  human  life  situated 
between  the  lower  darkness  and  the  upper  light.  With  their  own  early 
poet  Clean thes  they  can  assert  that  evil  comes  from  the  heart  of  man 
apart  from  exterior  influence.  With  their  first  philosophers  they  can 
see  a  single  substance  throughout  all  the  universe.  Yet  in  spite  of  this 
they  can  have  the  deity  creating  the  cosmos  out  of  chaos,  and  Seneca 
can  write  of  the  whole  frame  of  nature  as  in  danger  of  being  swallowed 
up  in  the  "dark  abyss."4  He  calls  philosophy  the  "art  of  divine  con- 
templation," for  it  "surmounts  that  darkness  which  we  are  wrapped  up 
in,  and  carries  us  up  to  the  fountain  of  light  itself."5  In  the  thought  of 
the  later  Stoicism  represented  in  Seneca  it  is  nevertheless  the  dualistic 
world- view  pf  mind  and  matter,  inheritance  of  Platonic  speculation, 
which  occurs  most  frequently.  In  striving  for  guidance  in  the  practical 
affairs  of  life  the  monistic  hypothesis  is  not  brought  into  the  forefront. 
Seneca  is  a  debtor  to  the  successors  of  Plato  when  he  declares  that 
"matter  is  dull  and  passive,  impotent  of  itself,  and  moulded  at  pleasure 
by  the  dominant  and  ever-active  mind."6  Where  Paul  and  the  Johan- 
nine  writer  regard  the  present  life  as  overcast  by  evil  shadows,  with  the 
"Christ-spirit"  or  the  "Jesus-Logos"  as  the  only  medium  by  which 
these  shadows  may  be  dispelled,  Seneca  sees  evil  only  in  the  attitude  of 

1 II  Cor.  4:4.  4  Seneca  Dial.  u.  i,  2;  Benefits  8. 

3 1  Cor.  7:1,  29,  40.  s  Seneca  Ep.  28. 

3 II  Cor.  12:7.  6  Seneca  Ep.  26. 


THE  JOHANNINE  UNIVERSE  29 

the  individual  toward  life,  and  the  power  in  man  himself  of  overcoming 
this  and  living  serenely  in  accordance  with  nature.  The  philosophic 
attitude  of  " divine  contemplation"  will  make  the  mind  of  man  "at 
peace  with  itself."  If  the  "soul  is  taken  up  with  divine  thoughts  it  is  in 
heaven  even  while  it  is  in  the  flesh."1 

In  the  cosmogony  utilized  by  Gnostic  contemporaries  of  the  Johan- 
nine  author  the  temporal  and  earthly  plane  is  called  the  "lower"  world. 
The  plurality  of  heavens  so  prominent  in  the  Jewish  Apocalyptists  and 
hinted  at  in  the  New  Testament  writings  plays  a  conspicuous  part  in  the 
world-scheme  of  Gnosticism.  Matter,  viewed  by  the  later  Stoics 
as  nondescript  and  passive,  is  held  by  the  Gnostics  to  be  active  and 
malevolent.  The  material  world  and  the  material  body  are  intrinsically 
evil  and  the  creation  of  evil  spirits.  The  generative  process  commended 
by  the  Stoics  and  condemned  by  Paul  becomes  utterly  abhorrent  to 
many  of  the  Gnostics.2  The  main  object  of  man  is  to  rid  his  soul  of 
material  and  fleshly  entanglements  in  order  that  it  may  win  its  way 
through  the  hostile  ranks  of  the  various  aerial  and  heavenly  spheres 
to  the  ultimate  goal,  the  abode  of  light  from  whence  the  soul  originally 
fell.  As  in  the  Fourth  Gospel  it  is  the  true  gnosis  which  opens  the  way. 

With  the  destiny  of  the  universe  the  Fourth  Gospel  has  little  con- 
cern. One  form  of  the  messianic  hope  within  the  Jewish  group  from 
which  the  first  Christians  derived  their  cosmical  theories  attached 
itself  tenaciously  to  the  thought  of  a  near-by  consummation  of  the 
present  age,  a  renovation  of  the  existing  world-order,  and  a  coming 
of  the  Messiah  upon  the  clouds  to  rule  over  his  own  people  in  a  new 
heaven  and  a  new  earth.  Paul,  at  the  commencement  of  his  apostolic 
activity  at  least,  exultingly  shared  in  this  view.3  He  could  portray 
the  return  of  Jesus  as  the  Messiah  in  terms  of  the  most  materialistic 
Jewish  type.  The  features  exhibited  in  his  treatment  of  the  messianic 
hope  conform  closely  to  those  at  the  forefront  of  the  national  quietism  of 
the  Pharisee  party.  It  is  true  that  here  the  messianic  kingdom  includes 
both  Jews  and  Gentiles  who  have  received  the  "spirit  of  Christ."  Yet 
elsewhere  in  the  epistles  of  his  early  ministry  Paul  gives  token  of  believing 
firmly  that  the  Jewish  race  could  look  forward  to  enjoying  the  premier 
place  in  the  coming  new  regime.  Further  than  this  "all  Israel"  is  to  be 
saved  from  the  destruction  of  the  present  order.4  Not  that  the  messianic 

1  Seneca  Ep.  18;  Ben.  9. 

2  Arnold,  op.  cit.,  p.  426;    cf.  Case  in  A  Guide  to  Study  of  Christian  Religion, 
PP-  3°7>  3IO>  3*i;  cf.  Legge,  op.  cit.,  I,  153,  on  the  Essenes. 

slThess.  4:13-18.  4  Rom.  11:1  f.,  12,  26. 


30  THE  WORLD-VIEW  OF  THE  FOURTH  GOSPEL 

age  is  to  be  of  the  same  character  as  the  order  which  it  has  succeeded. 
Paul  distinctly  states  his  conviction  that  when  "the  trumpet  shall  sound 
at  the  last  day"  it  will  presage  the  utter  disappearance  of  all  things 
material.  "Flesh  and  blood  cannot  inherit  the  kingdom  of  God."1  His 
scorn  of  the  physical,  with  the  activities  incident  to  its  continuance,  set 
alongside  of  his  keen  anticipation  of  an  imminent  cataclysmic  end  to  the 
present  scheme  of  things,  carries  him  at  times  to  the  verge  of  frenzy. 
Such  seems  to  be  the  atmosphere  surrounding  his  strenuous  and  notable 
appeal  to  the  Corinthian  Christians:  "But  this  I  say,  brethren,  the  time 
is  shortened,  that  henceforth  both  those  that  have  wives  may  be  as  though 
they  had  none;  and  those  that  weep  as  though  they  wept  not;  and 
those  that  buy  as  though  they  possessed  not;  and  those  that  use  the 
world  as  not  using  it  to  the  full:  for  the  fashion  of  this  world  passe th 
away."2  In  the  later  New  Testament  letters  Paul's  expectancy  respect- 
ing the  near  end  of  the  world  is  not  so  compelling.  He  writes  of  his  own 
death  and  sees  in  it  an  escape  from  the  "evil  age"  into  a  "far  better" 
existence  "with  Christ."3  It  may  be  too  that  a  change  in  Paul's  escha- 
tology  created  a  different  attitude  toward  earthly  and  physical  con- 
siderations. In  the  letter  to  the  Ephesians  the  position  outlined  with 
respect  to  the  marriage  relation  marks  a  wide  remove  from  that  of 
Paul  in  I  Corinthians.4 

The  opinions  of  Paul  respecting  marriage  in  the  letter  to  the  Cor- 
inthians strike  a  note  common  among  the  Cynic-Stoics,  who  in  the  very 
nature  of  things  moved  in  the  same  sphere  of  popular  religious  propa- 
gandism  as  did  the  leaders  of  early  Christianity  in  its  appeal  to  the 
Hellenistic  world.  Epictetus  is  a  champion  of  celibacy  and  expresses 
himself  in  language  very  similar  to  that  of  Paul.5  On  the  other  hand, 
Seneca  and  Musonius  Rufus  treat  marriage  and  family  life  in  the  same 

'I  Cor.  15:50. 
2 1  Cor.  7:26,  29-31. 
3  Phil.  1:23. 
"Eph.  5:22-33. 

s  "In  the  present  state  of  things,  which  is  like  that  of  an  army  placed  in  battle 
order,  is  it  not  fit  that  the  cynic  should  without  any  distraction  be  employed  only  on 
the  ministration  of  God?  To  say  nothing  of  other  things,  a  father  must  have  a 
heating  apparatus  for  the  baby;  wool  for  his  wife  when  she  is  delivered,  oil,  a  bed,  a 
cup;  and  so  the  furniture  of  the  house  is  increased.  Where  then  now  is  that  king 
who  devotes  himself  to  the  public  interests  .  .  .  .  ?  Consider  what  we  are  bringing 
the  cynic  down  to,  how  we  are  taking  his  royalty  from  him!" — Epict.  Disc.  iii.  22. 
69-75;  cf.  Arnold,  op.  ciL,  p.  368;  cit. 


TH£  JOHANNINE  UNIVERSE  31 

dignified  fashion  as  does  the  writer  of  the  Ephesian  letter.1  In  writing 
of  his  wife  Seneca  sets  aside  his  Stoic  restraint  and  permits  himself  the 
use  of  most  affectionate  terms.  He  also  describes  the  "wise  and  good 
man"  as  one  "who  does  not  so  much  consider  the  pleasure  of  his  life 
as  the  need  that  the  world  has  of  him;  and  who  does  not  weary  of  this 
life  so  long  as  he  is  able  to  serve  his  wife  or  his  friends."  Musonius  in 
opposing  the  celibate  ideal  of  Epictetus  declares  that  marriage  was  no 
hindrance  to  Pythagoras,  Socrates,  or  Crates,  the  princes  of  philosophy, 
and  that  since  marriage  is  natural  philosophers  should  set  the  example 
of  it.2 

In  the  later  writings  of  the  New  Testament,  such  as  Hebrews  and 
the  catholic  epistles,  a  like  attitude  is  found.3  In  the  letter  called 
II  Peter  the  Stoic  world-end  by  fire  is  contemplated.  The  heavens  and 
the  earth  are  "stored  up  for  fire,"  and  in  the  "day  of  the  Lord"  the 
"heavens  shall  pass  away  with  a  great  noise,  and  the  elements  shall  be 
dissolved  with  fervent  heat,  and  the  earth  and  the  works  that  are  therein 
shall  be  burned  up."4  In  the  Corinthian  letters  Paul  teaches  the  Stoic 
eschatology.  For  him  the  day  (the  last  day  of  judgment)  is  to  be 
"revealed  in  fire."5  The  difference  between  Paul  and  II  Peter  is  that 
while  the  former  feels  that  the  end  of  the  age  is  imminent — perilously  so 
for  many  of  the  Corinthian  schismatics — the  latter  is  earnestly  seeking 
to  explain  to  people  of  Paul's  earlier  persuasion  the  tardiness  of  the 
"day's"  appearing.  In  this  the  writer  of  II  Peter  is  nearer  Stoic  escha- 
tology than  is  Paul,  although  both  agree  as  to  the  manner  of  the  con- 
summation. 

In  the  Fourth  Gospel  the  same  extended  view  of  the  future  as 
regards  the  present  world  is  found.  There  is  no  eager  waiting  for  the 
end  of  the  material  universe  and  the  ushering  in  of  a  new  era.  The 
relationships  that  belong  to  the  earthly  plane  do  not  evoke  the  author's 
commendation  or  his  censure.  He  does  not  evidence  contempt  for  the 
physical  as  such.  For  him  the  Logos  could  dwell  in  real  flesh.6  The 
human  parentage  of  his  hero  appears  to  detract  in  no  whit  from  the 
reality  of  that  hero's  kinship  with  God  the  Father.  Illustrative  material 
containing  immemorial  tradition  among  Jewish  women  concerning 
childbirth  is  made  use  of  in  evident  approval  of  race  perpetuation.7  For 

1  Seneca  Ep.  4.  25,  105. 

2  Stobaeus  iv.  22.  20;  cf.  Arnold,  op.  cit.,  pp.  368  ff. 
3Heb.  13:4;  I  Pet.  3:1-8. 

4 II  Pet.  3:6-13.  6  John  1:14;   19:34;   20:24-29. 

5 1  Cor.  3: 13-15.  7  John  16:21. 


32  THE  WORLD-VIEW  OF  THE  FOURTH  GOSPEL 

the  Johannine  writer  the  values  of  life  do  not  depend  upon  a  cessation 
of  the  present  order.  He  does  not  need  to  look  forward  to  a  last  day 
with  the  resurrection  of  the  physical  body  as  did  the  Jewish  Pharisees, 
or  of  a  glorified  body  as  did  Paul.  The  destiny  of  the  universe  in  the 
material  sense  is  so  far  off  as  to  be  neglible  in  the  preaching  of  his  gospel. 
The  destiny  of  mankind  is  not  associated  with  a  coming  cataclysmic 
world-end. 

There  are  three  instances  of  eschatological  reference  in  the  Johannine 
writings.  These  will  bear  quotation.  In  the  first  Jesus  is  represented 
as  saying  to  the  Jews  in  Jerusalem,  " Marvel  not  at  this:  for  the  hour 
cometh  in  which  all  that  are  in  the  tombs  shall  hear  his  voice,  and  shall 
come  forth;  they  that  have  done  good,  unto  the  resurrection  of  life; 
and  they  that  have  done  ill,  unto  the  resurrection  of  judgment."1  In  the 
second,  the  "bread  of  life"  discourse,  Jesus  declares,  "This  is  the  will  of 
him  that  sent  me,  that  of  all  which  he  hath  given  me  I  should  lose  nothing, 
but  should  raise  it  up  at  the  last  day.  For  this  is  the  will  of  my  Father, 
that  everyone  that  beholdeth  the  Son,  and  believeth  on  him,  should  have 
eternal  life;  and  I  will  raise  him  up  at  the  last  day."2  In  the  account  of 
the  raising  of  Lazarus,  Martha  gives  utterance  to  the  popular  Jewish 
resurrection  hope:  "Martha  saith  unto  him,  I  know  that  he  [her  brother] 
shall  rise  again  on  the  last  day."  In  all  three  instances  these  Jewish 
eschatological  views  occur  in  conjunction  with  material  that  deprives 
them  of  future  significance.  In  the  first,  the  reader  is  advised  that  those 
who  believe  on  Jesus  as  the  divine  messenger  have  "eternal  life"  and 
will  not  come  into  judgment,  but  have  passed  "from  death  unto  life." 
"The  hour  now  is,  when  the  dead  shall  hear  the  voice  of  the  Son  of  God, 
and  they  that  hear  shall  live."  In  the  second,  Jesus  is  put  forward  as  the 
"living  bread  which  came  down  from  heaven  that  a  man  may  eat  thereof 
and  not  die,"  and  it  is  argued  that  eternal  life  is  wrapped  up  in  the  words 
of  Jesus,  which  if  received  aright  "are  spirit  and  life."3  In  the  third, 
the  author  has  Jesus  expressly  combat  the  Jewish  idea  of  the  physical 
resurrection  at  the  last  day:  "Jesus  saith  unto  her  [Martha],  I  am  the 
resurrection  and  the  life:  he  that  believeth  on  me  though  he  die,  yet  shall 
he  live:  and  he  that  liveth  and  believeth  on  me  shall  never  die."4  In 
the  thought  of  the  Johannine  writer  the  Jewish  elements  appear,  only  to 
be  overcast  by  the  spiritual  teaching  of  the  context.  A  prominent  New 

1  John  5 :  28,  29. 

2  John  6:39,  40. 

3  John  6:50,  63. 

4  John  ii :  25. 


THE  JOHANNINE  UNIVERSE  33 

Testament  scholar  in  commenting  upon  the  foregoing  passages  writes  as 
follows : 

It  is  impossible  to  reconcile  such  utterances  with  the  view  of  judgment 
which  we  must  regard  as  the  distinctive  Johannine  view.  They  serve  only 
to  remind  us  that  John,  with  all  his  originality  of  thought,  was  still  partly 
bound  to  the  past.  Along  with  his  own  conception  he  strove  to  make  room  for 
the  belief  that  had  impressed  itself  on  the  Church  at  large,  of  which  he  was  a 
member.  In  this  instance  ....  he  found  elements  in  the  current  theology 
which  were  not  wholly  tractable  to  his  method  of  reinterpretation,  and  instead 
of  discarding  them  he  simply  incorporated  them  as  they  were.  Their  presence 
must  be  acknowledged,  but  it  need  not  confuse  us  in  our  estimate  of  his  own 
characteristic  thought.1 

The  second  coming  of  Jesus,  which  was  so  closely  connected  by  the 
early  Christians  with  the  last  day  and  the  general  judgment,  does  not 
figure  in  the  Fourth  Gospel  at  all.  The  reference  to  it  in  the  twenty- 
first  chapter  is  generally  conceded  to  belong  to  the  hand  of  an  editor 
rather  than  that  of  the  compiler  and  author  of  the  main  book.  The 
dominant  thesis  of  the  Johannine  treatment  makes  the  second  coming 
of  Jesus  a  work  of  supererogation  entirely.  For  the  early  Christian 
eternal  life  was  to  begin  in  the  new  dispensation.  For  the  Fourth  Gospel 
eternal  life  begins  in  the  present  for  all  who  believe  in  Jesus.  As 
Schmiedel  writes: 

It  was  generally  expected  by  the  early  Christians  that  Jesus'  second 
coming  from  heaven  would  be  the  signal  for  a  bodily  resurrection  and  for  the 
judgment  to  be  held  before  the  throne  of  God  upon  all  mankind;  and  that 
eternal  life  would  then  begin.  In  John,  on  the  other  hand,  the  judgment  takes 
place  during  life,  when  a  distinction  is  drawn  between  men,  and  the  one  section 
turns  toward  Jesus,  the  light  which  streams  upon  the  world,  while  the  other 
turns  away  from  him  (3:  19-21).  This  very  moment  marks  the  beginning  of 
eternal  life  for  such  as  believe  in  him  or  acknowledge  God  and  Jesus;  and  it  is  a 
life  which  can  never  be  interrupted  by  a  resurrection  of  the  body.2 

Thus  in  the  Fourth  Gospel  is  perceived  a  view  of  the  future  from  which' 
imminent  cataclysmic  elements  are  on  the  verge  of  disappearance.  In 
this  the  author  provided  a  method  that  has  been  adopted  by  leaders  of 
thought  throughout  the  Christian  movement.3 

1  E.  F.  Scott,  The  Fourth  Gospel;  Its  Purpose  and  Theology,  pp.  216,  217. 

2  P.  W.  Schmiedel,  The  Johannine  Writings,  p.  254. 

3  In  his  Philosophy  of  Religion,  Hoffding  writes  thus  concerning  the  attitude  of 
Augustine:  "The  primitive  conceptions  of  the  second  coming  and  the  last  judgment 
are  now  relegated  to  a  distant  and  twilight  background  where  they  appear  like  blue 
mountains  on  a  distant  horizon"  (p.  369). 


34  THE  WORLD-VIEW  OF  THE  FOURTH  GOSPEL 

The  Johannine  ideas  with  regard  to  the  universe  have  now  been 
brought  under  review.  Its  triple  character  has  been  noted.  Its  origin 
and  its  destiny  and  their  interest  or  lack  of  interest  for  the  author  have 
been  discussed.  His  world-view  also  exhibits  the  thought  entertained 
by  him  respecting  man  in  his  relation  to  the  universe.  How  does  man 
make  himself  at  home  in  the  world  ?  How  does  he  overcome  the  condi- 
tions of  the  temporal  existence?  What  is  the  correct  attitude,  in  the 
writer's  opinion,  for  man  to  assume  toward  the  world?  These  and 
similar  matters  will  be  dealt  with  in  the  following  chapter. 


CHAPTER  III 
MAN  AND  THE  UNIVERSE  IN  THE  JOHANNINE  WORLD-VIEW 

An  examination  of  the  world-view  functioning  in  the  thought  of  the 
Johannine  writer  reveals  the  fact  that  for  him  man  is  an  occupant  of 
the  inter-world  with  good  and  evil  influences  playing  upon  him  from 
above  and  below  the  earthly  order.  The  author  is  not  seriously  con- 
cerned with  the  purpose  of  the  universe  and  its  relation  to  man.  In 
common  with  the  ancient  Hebrew  the  Stoic  felt  that  man  was  the  center 
of  providential  purpose.  The  chief  end  of  "nature"  in  the  Stoic  view 
was  the  wise  and  good  man,  the  "citizen  of  the  universe."  The  later 
Hellenistic  writers,  affected  by  Oriental  astral  speculation,  turned 
aside  occasionally  from  admiration  of  human  possibilities  to  appreciate 
the  beauty  of  the  physical  universe.  Seneca  looks  back  with  envy 
to  the  saeculum  aureum,  when  in  the  silence  of  the  night  men  took  their 
ease  stretched  out  upon  mother-earth  and  gazed  enraptured  at  the  myriad 
glories  of  the  star-lit  skies.1  The  religious  literature  of  the  Jewish 
people  is  replete  with  admiring  recognition  of  natural  phenomena, 
while  ever  ready  to  view  man  as  the  being  to  whose  sustenance  and 
delight  all  created  existences  are  set  to  minister.  The  locus  classicus, 
in  which  both  attitudes  appear,  is  a  religious  hymn  that  has  left  its 
mark  upon  many  minds  in  the  course  of  Christian  history.2  The 
opinion  of  Jewish  Apocalyptists  writing  at  the  same  time  as  the  Johan- 
nine author  was  that  "by  no  means  was  man  made  on  account  of  the 
world,  but  the  world  on  account  of  man."3 

In  the  teaching  of  the  Fourth  Gospel  all  such  suggestion  fails  of  a 
place.  The  introduction  of  natural  phenomena  occurs,  only  to  have  their 
significance  for  man  immediately  displaced  by  the  main  mystic  doctrine 
imparted  by  the  author.  The  stirring  of  the  evening  breeze  with  its 
mystery  of  whence  and  whither  speaks  to  him  only  of  the  entrance  of 

1  Seneca  Ep.  go.  42. 

2  "When  I  consider  thy  heavens,  the  work  of  thy  fingers,  the  moon  and  the  stars, 
which  thou  hast  ordained;   What  is  man,  that  thou  art  mindful  of  him?    And  the 
son  of  man,  that  thou  visitest  him  ?     For  thou  hast  made  him  but  little  lower  than 
God,  and  crownedst  him  with  glory  and  honour.     Thou  madest  him  to  have  dominion 
over  all  the  works  of  thy  hands;  Thou  hast  put  all  things  under  his  feet." — Ps.  8:3-6; 
cf.  Pss.  96,  97,  107,  147,  148. 

311  Baruch  14:8;  cf.  8:44. 

35 


36  THE  WORLD-VIEW  OF  THE  FOURTH  GOSPEL 

the  Logos  or  " spirit"  into  the  life  of  man.1  A  refreshing  draught 
of  water  from  the  cool,  dark  depths  of  Jacob's  well  is  ignored  even  by  the 
tired  and  thirsty  traveler  while  he  discourses  to  the  Samaritan  woman  of 
"the  living  water  springing  up  into  eternal  life."2  Those  who  follow 
Jesus  because  of  the  " loaves  and  fishes"  are  admonished  to  "work  not 
for  the  meat  which  perisheth,  but  for  that  which  abideth  unto  eternal 
life."3  The  gift  of  God's  sunshine  with  its  blessings  for  man  is  forgotten 
in  the  presence  of  Jesus,  the  "light  of  the  world,"  following  whom  man 
"shall  not  walk  in  darkness,  but  shall  have  the  light  of  life."4 

In  the  Fourth  Gospel  racial  or  political  considerations  play  little  or 
no  part  whatever.  For  earlier  religious  writers  this  has  been  a  serious 
problem.  First-century  Jewish  authors  concurred  heartily  in  the  ancient 
national  notion  that  God  had  created  the  world  and  all  it  contained  in 
strict  view  of  their  own  racial  continuance  and  welfare.5  Others  of  their 
contemporaries  claimed  this  distinction  only  for  the  "righteous"  in  the 
nation.6  This  developing  exclusiveness  on  the  part  of  a  section  of  the 
Jewish  race,  along  with  its  unswerving  fidelity  to  the  Torah,  is  a  well- 
known  feature  of  early  Christian  times.7  It  has  already  been  noted 
that  in  spite  of  the  gentile  parish  of  Paul  and  along  with  his  universal 
tendencies  there  is  the  adherence  to  a  view  of  the  paramount  place  of 
"Israel"  in  the  world-prospect  of  the  Christian  apostle.8  In  early 
extra-canonical  literary  productions  of  Christianity  this  national  exclu- 
siveness is  taken  over  and  transformed  into  ecclesiastical  rigor  under 
the  dominance  of  which  all  things  are  said  to  be  created  for  the  especial 
glory  of  the  "church."9  It  is  only  just  to  the  author  of  the  "  Shepherd" 
to  recognize  the  wider  tendency  in  his  world-view,  a  tendency  traceable 
in  the  later  Old  Testament  prophets  and  prominent  in  the  literature  of 
early  Christianity.10 

Interests  of  this  kind  do  not  occupy  the  attention  of  the  Johannine 
author.  The  Jewish  race  claims  his  notice  only  because  the  historical 

1  John  3: 8.  3  John  6: 27. 

2  John  4: 14.  "  John  3: 12. 
s  Assumption  of  Moses  1:12;  IV  Ezra  6:55,  59;   7:11. 
6 II  Baruch  14:19;   15:7;   21:24. 

7"Interroge  sur  le  moment  ou  il  convenait  d'enseigner  aux  enfants  la  sagesse 
grecque,  un  savant  rabbin  avait  repondu:  'A  1'heure  qui  n'est  ni  le  jour  ni  la  nuit 
puisqu'il  est  e"crit  de  la  Loi: — Tu  Tetudieras  jour  et  nuit'." — E.  Renan,  Vie  de  Jesus. 

8  P.  29  of  this  thesis. 

9  Shepherd  Vis.  i :  i,  6;   2:4;  4:5. 

10  Justin  Martyr  op.  cit.  i.  10;  cf.  Charles,  Apoc.  and  Pseud,  II,  415. 


MAN  AND  THE  UNIVERSE  37 

associations  of  his  religion  derive  from  the  Jews  and  because  protagonists 
of  Judaism  menace  the  origin  and  perpetuation  of  that  religion.1  Roman 
authority  is  perforce  referred  to  in  the  account  of  the  death  of  Chris- 
tianity's founder.2  Hints  of  the  spread  of  the  new  religion  among  the  Sa- 
maritans and  the  Greek-speaking  Jews  are  not  so  much  evidences  of  the 
author's  struggle  with  a  problem  of  universalizing  a  national  cult  as  the 
precipitate  of  early  Christian  history  introduced  by  him  into  his  own 
presentation  of  the  teachings  necessary  to  the  propagation  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion  in  his  own  day.3 

The  practical  interest  of  the  Johannine  writer  turns  in  an  altogether 
different  direction  from  that  of  physical  need  or  mundane  comfort  or 
racial  predilection.  His  Attitude  is  dominantly  mystical,  and  in  order 
that  his  position  may  stand  out  more  clearly  it  may  be  well  to  discuss 
briefly  mysticism  in  its  general  aspects.  A  present-day  exponent  of 
functional  psychology  defines  the  mystic  as  "one  who  accepts  the 
existence  or  reality  of  God  as  it  is  understood  by  his  time  and  social 
milieu  without  question  and  concentrates  all  the  energy  of  his  being 
upon  the  attainment  of  communion  with  God."4  The  philosophic 
aspect  of  mysticism  appears  when  the  human  mind  essays  to  deal  with 
the  divine  essence  or  ultimate  reality  of  things.  It  is  the  "  conviction  of 
direct  and  immediate  communication,  independent  of  any  sensuous 
perception,  with  intelligence  not  bound  by  the  conditions  of  the  sensible 
universe."5  On  its  religious  side  mysticism  is  the  endeavor  of  the 
human  being  to  enjoy  the  blessedness  of  actual  communion  with  highest 
being,  with  God.  Edward  Caird  describes  this  kind  of  mysticism  as 
"religion  in  its  most  concentrated  form."  "It  is,"  he  writes,  "that 
attitude  of  mind  in  which  all  other  relations  are  swallowed  up  in  the 
relation  of  the  soul  to  God."  In  the  discussion  of  man  and  the  uni- 
verse the  Johannine  writer  displays  mysticism  in  both  the  philosophic 
and  the  religious  aspects,  the  latter  occupy  ing  for  him  the  wider  field 
of  interest. 

The  author  of  the  Fourth  Gospel  is  obsessed  with  the  unreality,  the 
transitoriness,  and  the  evil  character  of  the  environment  in  which  he  has 
found  himself.  This  is  native  to  all  mystic  speculation.  The  present 

1  John  7 :  i  f . 

2  John  18: 29  f.;   19:  if. 

a  John  4:4  f.;   7:35;   12:20  L 

4  Edward  Scribner  Ames,  American  Journal  of  Theology,  April,  1915. 

s  Sir  Frederick  Pollock,  Hibbert  Journal,  October,  1913. 


38  THE  WORLD-VIEW  OF  THE  FOURTH  GOSPEL 

world  is  ever  a  means  to  an  end  rather  than  an  end  in  itself.  Life's 
activities  have  significance  only  in  relation  to  an  "inner"  unseen  life. 
The  world  of  common  experiences  loses  its  color  and  its  attraction  for 
the  mystic.1  He  is  a  stranger  in  a  strange  land,  and  the  traveling  is 
through  a  wilderness  of  dust  and  darkness.  The  various  sense- 
phenomena  of  his  earthly  experience  become  but  types  or  symbols 
by  means  of  which  the  mind  discerns  the  eternal  reality  and  the  life  of 
the  mystic  merges  into  the  life  of  deity  itself.  The  vital  things  are  the 
eternal  and  the  invisible.  He  views  all  history  sub  specie  aeternitatis 
and  ignores  local  and  temporal  partitions.  The  primary  and  absolute 
nature  of  the  unseen  and  eternal,  the  secondary  and  relative  character  of 
the  visible  and  temporal,  these  are  the  fundamental  and  directive 
presuppositions  of  the  true  mystic. 

Although  the  mystic  holds  it  possible  in  this  present  existence  to  know 
God,  he  does  not  admit  that  this  knowledge  is  an  ordinary  cognitive 
phenomenon.  It  is,  in  his  opinion,  unique  in  itself  and  achieved  through 
no  process  of  perception,  reasoning,  or  scientific  experiment.  These 
methods  involve  effort  and  at  best  lead  to  provisional  and  relative  con- 
clusions. They  are  necessarily  held  in  leash  by  the  premises  first  laid 
down,  and  moreover  they  point  beyond  immediate  results  to  still  newer 
problems.  If  the  mystic  employs  such  methods  he  does  so  only  to 
"scorn  the  base  degrees  by  which  he  did  ascend."  The  paramount 
purpose  for  him  is  to  move  beyond  the  relative  and  partial  and  "arrive 
at  the  blessed  goal "  of  the  absolute.  In  the  acquisition  of  the  knowledge 
of  God  he  is  anxious  to  eliminate  as  far  as  possible  activity  requiring 
direct  effort.  Dionysius  the  Areopagite  overcame  this  difficulty  by 
positing  a  via  negativa  in  which  he  "left  behind  all  things  both  in  the 
sensible  and  in  the  intelligible  worlds  and  entered  into  the  darkness  of 
ignorance,  or  rather  an  excess  of  light  that  is  truly  mystical."  Leading 
back  from  this  ineffable  light  Dionysius  had  a  via  affirmativa  bringing 
him  through  abstraction  and  analysis  to  God.2  This  writer  constantly 
calls  for  a  cultivation  of  passionless  passivity  through  which  the  soul  may 

1  "Is  it  any  wonder  that  a  Bernard  of  Clairvaux  should  traverse  the  passes  of  the 
Alps  surrounded  by  scenes  of  the  most  marvellous  beauty  and  grandeur  without  utter- 
ing a  single  word  that  would  indicate  that  these  things  made  any  lasting  impression  on 
his  mind  ?     For  his  eye  was  turned  inward  to  contemplate  those  vaster  scenes,  of  which 
the  grandest  natural  scenery  could  be  only  a  sensuous  reflection,  in  which  he  stood 
nearer  to  the  ultimate  Sublime  and  Beautiful  in  the  presence  of  which  all  things  of 
sense  shrank  away  abashed."— G.  Cross,  Biblical  World  (February,  1917),  P-  97- 

2  W.  R.  Inge,  Christian  Mysticism,  pp.  108,  114.     W.  M.  Scott,  Aspects  of  Chris- 
tian Mysticism,  p.  45. 


MAN  AND  THE  UNIVERSE  39 

realize  the  divine.  A  similar  attitude  is  evinced  by  the  leader  of  a 
school  of  mysticism  profoundly  affecting  Christian  thinkers  of  the 
fifth  century  and  onward.1  Plotinus  places  a  low  estimate  upon  the 
historical  process  and  upon  human  relations.  Social  and  civic  duties 
as  well  as  intellectual  activities  must  be  superseded  by  the  isolated 
detachment  of  the  soul  in  metaphysical  union  with  the  One.  He 
refers  to  the  mystic  attitude  in  this  way: 

He  will  not  behold  this  light,  who  attempts  to  ascend  to  the  vision  of  the 
supreme  while  he  is  drawn  downwards  by  those  things  which  are  an  impediment 
to  the  vision.  He  will  likewise  not  ascend  by  himself  alone,  but  will  be  accom- 
panied by  that  which  will  divulse  him  from  the  One,  or  rather  he  will  not  be 

himself  collected  into  a  one He,  therefore,  who  has  not  yet  arrived 

thither,  but  either  on  account  of  the  above-mentioned  obstacle  is  deprived  of 
this  vision,  or  through  the  want  of  reason  which  may  conduct  him  to  it,  and 
impart  faith  respecting  it;  such  a  one  may  consider  himself  as  the  cause  of  his 
disappointment  through  these  impediments,  and  should  endeavour  by  separat- 
ing himself  from  all  things  to  be  alone.2 

In  trying  to  bridge  the  chasm  between  man  and  the  world,  between 
subject  and  object,  Plotinus  finally  transfers  reality  altogether  to  an 
inner  life  of  the  spirit,  living  which,  man  loses  all  sense  of  social  values 
in  divine  communion.3  So  remote  from  ordinary  human  experience  does 
this  mystic  ecstasy  become  that  for  the  followers  of  Plotinus  it  is  all  but 
unattainable  in  the  earthly  existence.  The  first  great  disciple  of  Plotinus 
records  four  such  experiences  of  his  master,  but  only  one  for  himself,  even 
at  the  age  of  sixty-eight  and  after  long  years  of  endeavor.4 

Writers  in  the  field  of  psychology  have  attempted  to  investigate  the 
mystic  mind  and  to  discover,  on  the  basis  of  his  own  introspection,  some 
traces  of  the  journey  through  which  he  comes  to  his  own.  Delacroix 
finds  three  stages  in  the  development  of  the  mystic  life.5  In  the  first 
the  mystic  has  attained  to  the  desired  union  with  God  and  is  entirely 
wrapped  up  in  the  strange  new  elevation  of  life-interests  created  by  this 
experience  of  his.  The  second  stage  is  called  in  mystic  phrase  "the 
dark  night  of  the  soul."  In  this  clouds  gather  to  obscure  the  vision  of 
God  and  obstacles  intervene  to  prevent  continued  union  with  the  divine. 

1  Plotinus  (205-279)  A.D. 

2  Plotinus  Ennead  vi.  9.  4. 

3  R.  Eucken,  The  Problem  of  Human  Life,  p.  104. 
*T.  Whittaker,  The  N  eo-Platonists ,  p.  101. 

5  H.  Delacroix,  Etudes  de  Vhistoire  et  de  psychologie  du  mysticisme,  p.  415.  See 
discussion  in  M.  B.  Dawkins,  Mysticism  an  Epistemological  Problem,  pp.  12  ff. 


40  THE  WORLD-VIEW  OF  THE  FOURTH  GOSPEL 

The  last  stage  is  characterized  by  "serene  and  powerful  activity"  where 
the  mystic  enjoys  continued  communion  and  at  the  same  time  appre- 
ciates and  makes  use  of  life's  ethical  values.  From  the  same  point  of 
view  Boutroux  is  able  to  distinguish  five  different  stages  of  the  mystical 
way:  (i)  a  semi-unconscious  grip  upon  the  God-idea,  the  desire  period; 
(2)  the  coming  of  the  idea  into  clear  consciousness  and  the  ascetic 
purifying  of  the  soul  to  bring  it  into  likeness  to  the  idea;  (3)  the  full 
realization  of  union,  the  ecstasy  period;  (4)  the  reshaping  of  the  indi- 
vidual's concepts  and  ethical  ideals  in  conformity  with  the  mystical 
knowledge  so  far  acquired;  and  (5)  the  full  and  permanent  development 
of  the  life  and  thought  when  the  mystic  in  knowing  and  loving  God  also 
knows  and  loves  the  entire  creation.1 

Such  considerations  as  these  in  connection  with  mysticism  as  a 
distinguishable  phenomenon  of  human  life  will  serve  to  introduce  the 
atmosphere  necessary  to  a  correct  view  of  the  Fourth  Gospel.  The 
emphasis  of  mysticism  in  any  and  all  of  its  forms  is  upon  immediate 
awareness  of  God,  upon  a  direct  and  intimate  fellowship  with  the 
divine.  The  tendency  of  mysticism  is  to  neglect  natural  phenomena, 
human  affairs,  and  social  considerations.  The  urge  of  the  mystic 
results  in  a  revaluation  of  all  life  from  the  point  of  view  of  his  new  and 
satisfying  intimacy  with  spiritual  potencies.  All  these  features  come 
plainly  to  the  forefront  in  the  Johannine  literature.  Man  "overcomes 
the  world  "  by  entering  into  divine  fellowship.  The  existence  and  reality 
of  God  are  never  questioned.  Over  against  the  evil  order  is  a  spiritual 
order  in  which  God  is  ever  regnant.  The  religious  experience  of  the 
author  has  given  him  a  place  in  the  spiritual  order  through  right  knowl- 
edge of  God.  This  has  ushered  him  into  a  freedom  that  breaks  the  bonds 
of  sin,  disturbs  the  control  of  an  evil  world,  and  brings  a  tranquillity 
untroubled  by  earthly  vicissitude,  untouched  even  by  the  terrors  of 
death.2  For  the  Johannine  writer  "the  whole  world"  is  under  the 
dominance  of  evil.3  It  is  in  a  state  of  "darkness"  or  "death."  Yet 
those  who  have  the  true  knowledge  of  God  are  passed  "from  death  unto 
life"  and  possess  a  "peace"  and  a  "joy"  that  is  complete.  Their 
fellowship  is  not  with  the  dark  and  dying  world,  but  with  the  eternal, 
ever-present  God.4  This  knowledge  of  God  with  its  concomitant  soul- 
serenity  does  not  depend  upon  the  future  course  of  events.  It  is  not  a 
promised  possession  stored  up  in  another  world.  It  is  a  present  blessing 
to  be  achieved  and  enjoyed  by  all  who  come  in  the  right  way.  The 

1  E.  M.  M.  Boutroux,  The  Psychology  of  Mysticism,  pp.  183  ff. 

2  John  8:36.  3 1  John  5:18.  4  John  14: 28;   15:11;   16:24. 


MAN  AND  THE  UNIVERSE  41 

epithet  " eternal  life"  is  applied  to  a  state  almost  wholly  dissevered 
from  temporal  and  spatial  relations.  Man  makes  his  escape  from  the 
world,  not  by  the  vestibule  of  death,  in  the  physical  sense,  but  by  the 
path  of  knowledge  which  leads  out  of  the  death  of  error  and  darkness 
into  the  life  of  truth  and  light.  The  significance  of  the  cosmic  order 
is  lost  in  the  reality  of  the  spiritual  order.  "Life  eternal  is  to  know 
the  only  true  God."  "He  that  believes  has  eternal  life."  God  has 
given  to  believers  "eternal  life."1 

A  glance  at  Christian  literature  earlier  than  the  Fourth  Gospel  will 
serve  to  show  the  development  of  the  mystic  world-view  up  to  its  all- 
pervading  power  in  the  Johannine  writings.  Scattered  mystical  utter- 
ances are  found  in  the  Synoptic  Gospels.  The  "vision  of  God"  is  for 
the  "pure  in  heart."2  Intimate  fellowship  with  the  divine  comes 
through  such  knowledge  of  God  as  Jesus  reveals  to  his  disciple.3  After 
the  confession  of  Peter  concerning  the  messiahship  of  Jesus  at  Caesarea 
Philippi,  Matthew's  record  introduces  a  clear  mystic  note  in  the  saying, 
"Blessed  art  thou,  Simon  Bar- Jonah:  for  flesh  and  blood  hath  not 
revealed  it  unto  thee,  but  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven."4  Another 
such  note  is  struck  by  the  author  of  Matthew  where  he  represents  Jesus 
as  affirming  that  where  two  or  three  are  come  together  in  his  name  there 
in  the  midst  of  them  will  be  his  presence.5  Yet  these  are  but  slight  and 
inconsequent  mystic  strains  which  do  not  affect  the  main  movement  of 
thought  in  the  pre- Johannine  Christian  literature.  In  the  non-Markan 
material  common  to  Matthew  and  Luke,  Jesus  is  the  teacher  uttering 
parables  and  aphorisms  after  the  fashion  of  the  Jewish  rabbi.  The 
bond  between  him  and  the  believer  is  expressed  in  terms  of  current 
relations  between  the  rabbi  and  his  disciple.  In  Mark,  Jesus  is  the 
ideal  Christian  receiving  at  baptism  an  outpouring  of  divine  power 
similar  to  the  spirit-manifestations  exhibited  by  earlier  Hebrew  heroes 
and  prophets.  This  spirit  is  expressed  not  so  much  in  teaching  his  fol- 
lowers spiritual  truths  as  in  works  of  healing  and  exorcism  which 
resembled,  yet  greatly  excelled,  the  activities  of  the  ordinary  Hellenistic 
miracle  worker  or  Jewish  messianic  claimant.  Matthew  and  Luke 
follow  Mark  largely  in  this  representation,  although  they  introduce 
elements  of  a  more  mystical  character. 

1  John  17: 13;  3:36;  I  John  5:  ii.  2  Matt.  5:8. 

3  Matt.  11:25-27;  Luke  10:21-24. 

4  Matt.  16: 13-20;  cf.  Mark  8:  27-30;  .Luke  9: 18-21. 
s  Matt.  18:20. 


42  THE  WORLD-VIEW  OF  THE  FOURTH  GOSPEL 

In  all  three  of  these  earlier  Christian  writings  the  imminent  fact  of  a 
coming  spiritual  regime  dominates  the  entire  message.  The  disciples 
are  messianic  emissaries  heralding  the  approaching  kingdom,  preaching 
repentance  and  the  new  righteousness,  and  preparing  men  for  the  future. 
The  emphasis  everywhere  is  upon  the  active  expression  of  the  spirit 
through  the  Christian  propaganda  in  order  that  the  promised  era  may  be 
the  more  speedily  realized.  There  is  no  passive  acceptance  of  the 
divine  life  and  a  beatific  experience  of  super-worldy  realities  here  and 
now.  The  message  for  man  is  that  he  must  repent  of  sin,  be  baptized  into 
spirit-endowment,  live  according  to  the  dictates  of  the  new  righteousness, 
and  seek  followers  for  his  master  in  earnest  desire  that  by  so  doing  the 
coming  of  the  kingdom  will  be  the  more  quickly  brought  to  pass. 

It  is  in  the  writings  of  Paul  where  Christian  mysticism  enters  to 
dispute  the  field  with  the  natural  and  non-mystic  elements  of  the  new 
religion.  Here  the  idea  of  the  divine  in  the  human  comes  into  play  for 
the  first  time  in  early  Christian  literature.  This  mystic  item  Paul 
received  from  his  Hellenistic  environment.  The  conception  of  God 
dwelling  in  a  human  body  did  not  arise  in  his  Jewish  thinking.  It  is 
common  knowledge  that  such  a  notion  did  not  live  happily  among  the 
Jewish  people.  The  history  of  the  relations  between  the  Jews  and  their 
Seleucid  overlords  indicates  very  distinctly  the  utter  revolt  of  the  Jewish 
mind  against  the  thought  of  connecting  a  human  being  with  deity  or  of 
identifying  any  man,  howsoever  exalted,  with  divinity.1  Yet  Paul,  in 
spite  of  his  Jewish  antecedents,  has  enough  Hellenism  to  express  his 
idea  of  the  Christian  life  in  terms  of  divine  and  human  interpenetration. 
"I  live,  yet  not  I  but  Christ  liveth  in  me"  is  a  statement  which  is  very 
comforting  to  him.2  He  reminds  the  Corinthian  Christians  that  his 
preaching  among  them  had  been  the  proclamation  of  "the  mystery  of 
God."  His  message  reveals  "God's  wisdom  in  a  mystery,"  and  to  the 
one  who  receives  this  message  are  displayed  "things  which  eye  saw  not, 
and  ear  heard  not,  and  which  entered  not  into  the  heart  of  man;  what- 
soever things  God  prepared  for  them  that  love  him."3  Paul's  letters 
constantly  bear  witness  to  his  having  achieved  the  third  stage  of  the 
mystic  life  described  by  Delacroix  as  that  "of  serene  and  potent  activ- 
ity." In  the  midst  of  all  his  mental  and  bodily  vexations  the  great 
apostle  enjoys  continued  communion  with  God  "in  Christ"  and  yet 
makes  full  use  of  life's  ethical  values  in  his  teaching.4 

1  S.  J.  Case,  The  Evolution  of  Early  Christianity,  p.  211. 

2  Gal.  2 : 20.  » I  Cor.  2:7,9. 

*  Gal.  5:13-26;  II  Cor.  4:7-";  11:16-30;  Rom.,  chaps.  12,  13. 


MAN  AND  THE  UNIVERSE  43 

Paul  was  fond  of  talking  as  the  mystics  do  of  the  illumination  which 
came  to  him  when  he  received  his  new  message  and  became  an  exponent 
of  Christianity.  He  assures  the  Galatians  that  he  received  his  gospel, 
"not  from  man  or  from  man's  teaching,  but  by  the  revelation  of  Jesus 
Christ  in  him."  This,  he  is  anxious  to  assure  them,  has  nothing  to  do 
with  "flesh  and  blood,"  but  is  the  result  of  the  direct  and  immediate 
revelation  in  the  "good  pleasure  of  God."1  The  author  of  the  Acts 
narrative  quotes  Paul  to  the  effect  that  he  was  guided  all  through  his 
career  by  a  "heavenly  vision"  received  at,  and  responsible  for,  its  incep- 
tion.2 In  writing  to  the  Corinthians,  Paul  darkly  hints  of  ecstasy,  of 
seeing  heavenly  mysteries,  and  of  hearing  words  too  ineffable  for  the 
utterance  of  earthly  lips.3  The  core  of  his  teaching  is  that  the  believer  is 
a  "new  creation  in  Christ  Jesus."4  For  him  Christ  dwells  in  the  disciple 
and  the  same  spirit  is  operative  in  both.  This  is  the  language  of  real 
mysticism.  At  the  same  time  it  is  evident  that  to  Paul's  way  of  think- 
ing the  new  life  is  meager  in  comparison  with  the  life  to  be  enjoyed 
in  the  future  kingdom.  The  present,  however  potent,  is  only  a  promise 
of  the  coming  abundant  life.  He  can  endure  the  physical  afflictions 
incident  to  life  in  the  body  by  looking  upward  and  onward  to  a  "far 
more  exceeding  and  eternal  weight  of  glory."  The  "methodical  ele- 
vation of  the  soul  toward  God,"  so  frequently  stressed  in  mysticism, 
becomes  Paul's  daily  habit.  He  looks  "  not  at  the  things  which  are  seen, 
but  at  the  things  which  are  not  seen,"  for  to  him  "the  things  which  are 
seen  are  temporal,  but  the  things  which  are  not  seen  are  eternal."  Here 
also  Paul  gives  evidence  of  treasuring  a  hope  still  wrapped  with  the 
cerements  of  Jewish  bodily  resurrection  ideas.  He  desires  to  know 
the  fellowship  of  Christ's  suffering  to  the  end  that  he  may  enter  into  the 
glory  of  the  resurrection.  His  citizenship  is  heaven,  a  place  whence 
Christ  is  to  come  to  earth  to  transform  Paul's  earthly  form,  "  the  body 
of  his  humiliation,"  and  to  fashion  it  like  unto  the  body  of  the  glorified 
Christ.5  The  mystic  use  of  symbols  is  seen  in  the  apostle's  teaching. 
His  body  of  believers  in  Christ  is  the  "wild  olive"  grafted  into  the 
"good  olive  tree"  of  true  Judaism.6  The  metaphor  of  the  body  with  its 
head  and  its  several  members  occupies  an  important  place  in  his  view 
of  the  early  Christian  community.7 

1  Gal.  1:15-17.  s  phil.  3:11,  20. 

2Acts,26:i9.  6  Rom.  ii :  17-24. 

3 II  Cor.  12:1-4.  ?!  Cor.  12:12-27. 
411  Cor.  5:17. 


44  THE  WORLD-VIEW  OF  THE  FOURTH  GOSPEL 

In  the  Epistle  to  Hebrews  the  combination  of  the  mystic  and  the 
prosaic,  the  rapturous  and  the  stolid  displayed  in  the  writings  of  Paul 
is  readily  observable.  The  writer  is  engaged  in  the  task  of  making  the 
Christian  rubrics  more  amenable  to  the  conservative  Jewish  mind. 
He  suffuses  the  cherished  traditions  of  Judaism — the  work  of  Moses,  Sinai, 
the  Torah,  the  Temple  cultus,  the  angelology — with  a  mystic  aura  which 
reveals  them  as  types  and  symbols  of  the  "good  things  to  come"  in  the 
Christian  religion.1  Indeed  all  the  things  of  earth  are  but  "copies  of 
the  things  in  the  heavens."2  Christ  is  the  high  priest  in  "a  greater  and 
more  perfect  tabernacle  not  made  with  hands."3  The  heroes  of  the 
Hebrew  nation,  according  to  this  interpretation,  were  possessed  of  the 
illumination  which  enabled  them  to  see  the  "city  whose  builder  and 
maker  is  God."  Moses  endured  as  seeing  him  who  is  invisible.  The 
Christian  is  one  who  has  entered  into  this  spiritual  order,  who  is  aware 
of  the  "cloud  of  heavenly  witnesses,"  who  discerns  clearly  the  heavenly 
realities  of  which  earthly  objects  and  historical  events  are  only  a  faint 
adumbration.4  Yet  in  Hebrews  as  in  Paul  the  look  is  mainly  a  forward 
one.  God  is  accessible  in  the  present  through  Christ  to  those  who  have 
become  "enlightened"  and  have  "tasted  of  the  heavenly  gift."5  The 
present,  nevertheless,  in  comparison  with  the  glorious  future  is  tenuous 
and  insufficient.  Only  after  the  resurrection  and  the  final  judgment, 
pictured  with  all  the  realism  of  Hebrew  prophetism  regarding  the  Yom 
Yahweh  or  of  later  Jewish  Apocalypticism  concerning  the  last  things, 
can  the  believer  be  perfected  in  holiness.6  As  in  Paul  and  the  writers 
of  the  Synoptic  Gospels,  the  relation  of  the  Christian  evangel  to  ordinary 
human  existence  with  its  moral  implications  suffers  no  obscurement 
in  the  treatment  of  Hebrews.  Here  as  in  the  earlier  Christian  literature 
the  ethical  coloring  is  distinctly  Jewish.7 

Thus  in  these  writings  of  the  New  Testament  are  seen  elements 
mystical  and  non-mystical,  the  tendency  being  favorable  to  a  recession 
of  the  severely  ethical  or  grossly  material  before  a  growing  super- 
ethicism  which  "is  in  the  world  yet  not  of  the  world."8  Mysticism 
moves  from  its  appearance  in  the  sparsely  scattered  hints  in  the  earlier 

1  Heb.  10:1;  9:11.  2 Heb.  9:23;  8:5. 

3  Heb.  4:14;  5:5-10;  7:24-28;  8:1,2;  9:11. 

4  Heb.,  chap,  ii ;  12:1,2.  s  Heb.  6:4. 
6Heb.6:2,8;  9:27;  10:26-31,35-39;  12:25-29.  ?Heb.  13:1-6. 

8E.  F.  Scott,  in  "The  Hellenistic  Mysticism  of  the  Fourth  Gospel,"  American 
Journal  of  Theology,  July,  1916,  derives  perhaps  more  ethical  significance  from  the 
discourses  than  the  author  intended  to  convey. 


MAN  AND  THE  UNIVERSE  45 

representations  to  its  complete  subjugation  of  all  other  elements  in  the 
Fourth  Gospel.  The  aggressive  preparedness  of  the  disciple  for  a 
coming  order  so  prominent  in  the  Synoptic  Gospels  and  in  Paul  dis- 
appears, and  in  its  place  is  found  a  passive  acceptance  and  enjoyment 
of  a  present  spiritual  order  already  replete  with  the  "abundant  life." 
Messianic  expectations  grounded  in  racial  or  political  or  even  religious 
arrangement  of  human  events  yield  place  to  a  plane  of  satisfaction 
created  by  a  revelation  already  completed  and  entirely  independent  of 
the  course  of  human  history  and  the  racial  demarcations  incident  to 
life  upon  the  earth.  The  sordid  details  which  a  rugged  Jewish  morality 
did  not  hesitate  to  discuss  gradually  become  less  conspicuous  and  at 
last  in  the  Johannine  writings  fail  to  gain  any  attention  whatever.  The 
reinterpretation  of  the  Christian  evangel  is  carried  out  by  the  writer 
upon  such  a  level  of  transcendence  that  no  provenance  is  afforded 
matters  so  inevitably  connected  with  ordinary  earthly  activity.  Chris- 
tian mysticism  comes  here  to  full  fruition. 

It  has  been  seen  that  the  religious  experience  lying  behind  the  pro- 
duction of  the  Fourth  Gospel  is  understood  only  in  the  light  of  its  mystic 
affiliations.  Escape  from  the  evil  world  comes  through  enlightenment 
which  furnishes  fellowship  with  God.  The  author  overcomes  the  world 
by  mystic  knowledge.  Communion  with  God  makes  the  believer 
free  and  happy  in  this  present  life.  It  is  in  the  search  for  the  author's 
method  of  maintaining  this  communion  that  evidence  of  his  Hellenistic 
associations  comes  to  view.  Here  the  writer  attempts — at  times  with 
but  indifferent  success — to  knit  together  threads  of  thought  and  life  in 
his  environment.  His  conceptual  world  contains  elements  of  Eastern 
and  Western  thinking  which  the  author  uses  without  caring  so  much 
about  their  antecedent  congruity  as  about  their  present  efficacy  in 
promoting  what  to  him  is  the  highest  religious  life. 

The  Johannine  writer  had  before  him  a  social  product  expressed  in 
terms  of  personal  faith  in  a  historical  figure,  namely,  Jesus,  a  Jew  of  the 
Palestinian  type.  He  saw  this  faith  lived  out  in  the  experience  of  people 
who  probably  had  themselves  felt  the  touch  of  Jesus'  personal  presence. 
In  his  own  life  a  like  faith  had  brought  about  a  consciousness  of  victory 
over  the  evil  forces  so  rife  in  his  world-view.  Also  this  writer  had  the 
Greek  language  as  a  vehicle  of  thought-expression,  and  along  with  this 
language  the  inheritance  of  ideas  concerning  the  interpenetration  of  the 
human  and  the  divine.  To  him  the  all-absorbing  fact  of  religious  life 
is  that  the  pure  divine  element,  the  Logos,  had  come  into  man  in  the 
person  of  Jesus  in  astonishing  measure.  Knowledge  that  saves  from  the 


46  THE  WORLD-VIEW  OF  THE  FOURTH  GOSPEL 

evil  world  is  mediated  through  perception  of  the  miraculous  manifesta- 
tion of  God-life  in  humanity  presented  in  the  historical  Jesus.  Usages  in 
the  religious  societies  of  his  day  likewise  affected  the  author.  Along 
with  the  recognition  of  the  new  Logos  endowment  through  faith  in 
Jesus  is  the  physical  act  of  baptism.  There  is  a  "sheepfold"  with  a 
door  to  it.1  The  doorway  is  the  baptismal  rite.2  The  believer  must  be 
born  of  water  as  well  as  of  the  spirit.  This  act  of  baptism  is  associated 
in  some  mystic  way  with  the  incoming  of  the  Logos  and  its  gift  of 
" eternal  life"  for  the  recipient. 

The  sustaining  of  the  mystic  life  is  represented  by  the  Johannine 
author  as  coming  through  a  steady  allegiance  to  the  proposition  that 
Jesus  is  the  Son  of  God,  with  unique  replenishment  of  the  Logos  element. 
Exterior  assistance  is  rendered  by  partaking  of  a  sacred  meal.  The 
inner  result  of  this  meal  is  continued  communion  with  God;  the  outward 
expression  is  love  for  the  Christian  community.  The  author  describes 
the  sustenance  of  the  mystic  life  in  terms  that  approximate  a  grossly 
materialistic  union  of  mankind  with  deity  and  in  the  same  breath 
repudiates  such  a  notion  by  explaining  that  after  all  it  is  the  spirit  that 
is  of  value.  The  "  flesh  and  blood,"  or  bread  and  wine,  of  the  sacred  meal 
are  but  material  tokens  of  a  mystical  unity  with  God  in  Christ.3  The 
Christian  community  is  set  forth  in  the  symbolic  language  enfiguring  the 
"vine  and  the  branches."4  Paul  in  his  allegory  of  the  body  alludes  to  a 
like  feature  of  early  Christianity.5  In  both  these  writers  the  pre- 
eminence of  Christ  is  unquestionably  stressed,  as  is  also  the  union  of  the 
believer  with  the  Divine  Father  through  the  "Son."  The  gradations 
that  appear  in  Paul's  community  are  absent  from  that  of  the  Johannine 
author.6  For  him  there  is  no  disparity  in  the  gifts  of  the  spirit  and  no 
degrees  of  efficiency  in  its  operation  among  the  pneumatikoi.  All 
believers  enjoy  a  common  gift  of  eternal  life  and  are  bound  in  a  common 
tie  to  each  other  and  to  God  by  the  Logos  element.  The  reference 
to  the  "beloved  disciple"  is  the  only  hint,  and  this  is  a  very  vague  one, 
of  superior  privileges  in  the  Christian  brotherhood  as  pictured  by  the 
author  of  the  Fourth  Gospel.7 

The  bringing  together  of  Jewish  and  Hellenistic  ideas  in  a  sort  of 
mesalliance  is  achieved  by  the  author  when  he  introduces  witnesses  to  the 
authenticity  of  the  Logos-revelation  made  through  Jesus.  As  evidence 

1  John  10 : 1-3.  4  John  15 : 1-6. 

2  John  3: 5,  22-26.  si  Cor.  12:12-26. 

3  John  6:48-51,  53-58,  63.  6I  Cor.  12:27-30. 
7John  13:22;  20:2;  21:20,21. 


MAN  AND  THE  UNIVERSE  47 

for  a  bona  fide  theory  of  the  Greek  philosophers,  features  of  early  Chris- 
tian tradition  in  widest  remove  from  this  theory  and  affected  strongly 
by  Jewish  lineage  are  brought  to  the  forefront  with  apparently  no  recog- 
nition of  inherent,  racial  inappositeness.1  Three  main  kinds  of  testi- 
mony to  Jesus  as  the  bearer  of  the  Logos  and  the  Logos  message  appear : 

(1)  that  of  John  the  Baptist,  who  "came  to  bear  witness  of  the  light";2 

(2)  that  of  the  extraordinary  power  possessed  by  Jesus,  displaying  itself  in 
knowledge  of  the  thoughts  of  others,  of  things  that  lie  outside  the  realm 
of  ordinary  individuals,  of  the  mind  of  God,  and  in  miraculous  deeds, 
such  as  turning  water  into  wine,  feeding  thousands  with  the  contents  of 
an  ordinary  scrip  carried  by  a  boy,  walking  on  the  waves  of  Lake  Gen- 
nesaret,  bringing  sight  to  the  blind,  and  even  raising  people  from  the 
dead;3   and  (3)  that  of  the  sacred  writings  of  Judaism,  so  appealing  to 
the  Jews  of  the  Dispersion.4    The  synoptic  writers  go  a  long  way  in 
their  appeal  to  the  Jewish  sacred  writ.     The  Johannine  writer  outpaces 
them  completely.     To  the  seeker  after  victory  over  the  world  these 
three  forms  of  testimony  to  Jesus  as  the  bearer  of  the  secret  are  pre- 
sented.    The  validity  of  this  evidence  is  assumed  to  be  unassailable. 
The  necessity  of  accepting  it  as  even  more  important  than  tactual 
acquaintance  with  the  earthly  Jesus  is  accentuated  by  the  story  of 
doubting  Thomas.     "Because  thou  hast  seen,  hast  thou  believed?" 
says  the  risen  Jesus  to  this  once  skeptical  disciple,  after  a  demonstration 
of  the  risen  body's  reality,  "blessed  are  they  which  have  not  seen  and 
yet  have  believed."5 

Such  considerations  as  the  foregoing  serve  to  show  the  mystic  use 
which  the  Johannine  author  made  of  material  held  in  common  with  other 
Christian  writers  in  his  treatment  of  man  and  the  universe.6  It  has  been 
made  patent  that  Hellenistic  influences  also  entered  largely  into  his 
re-working  of  the  early  traditions  of  the  new  religion.  To  be  fully 

1  E.  F.  Scott,  The  Fourth  Gospel,  p.  27.  2  John  1:8,  34. 

3  John  2:  25;   2:20;   13:1;   17:25;   2:1-11;  6:1-14,16-21;  9:  iff.;   ii :  iff. 

4  John  5:30,  46;   12:38-40;   19:28.  s  John  20:  29. 

6  "The  mystic  use  of  numbers  found  in  the  Gospel  of  Matthew  comes  into  view 
in  the  Johannine  choice  and  arrangement  of  material.  John  the  Baptist  three  times  is 
made  to  testify  concerning  Jesus.  Three  journeys  are  recorded  of  Jesus  to  Galilee,  as 
also  three  to  Jerusalem.  The  author  takes  account  of  three  Passovers  and  three  other 
Jewish  feasts.  Jesus  is  condemned  three  times  and  utters  three  sayings  from  the  cross. 
The  number  seven,  so  common  in  Matthew,  is  also  found.  There  are  seven  miracles 
and  seven  references  to  'the  hour.'  The  formula  'I  am'  occurs  seven  tunes.  Jesus 
in  the  last  discourse  repeats  seven  times  the  phrase,  'These  things  have  I  spoken 
unto  you.'"— E.  F.  Scott,  The  Fourth  Gospel,  pp.  21,  22. 


48  THE  WORLD-VIEW  OF  THE  FOURTH  GOSPEL 

understood  and  appreciated  the  Fourth  Gospel  must  be  seen  in  the  light 
of  its  non- Jewish  as  well  as  its  Jewish  heritage.  The  more  clearly  its 
affiliations  with  the  thought  and  conduct  of  the  peoples  in  the  locality  of 
Ephesus  as  they  met  their  life-problems  in  the  end  of  the  first  century 
are  discerned,  the  better  will  the  author's  problem  and  his  way  of 
solving  it  be  grasped  by  the  student  of  Christian  origins. 

When  the  traveling  Christian  preacher,  as  the  author  of  the  Johan- 
nine  literature  would  appear  to  have  been,  was  carrying  on  his  whole- 
souled  propaganda  as  the  exponent  of  a  new  religion,  he  met  at  every 
turn  of  the  road  the  competition  of  the  Cynic-Stoic  enthusiast.  This 
religious  rival  had  a  monistic  world-view.  His  message  was  that  all 
men  were  brothers  of  a  like  substance  with  deity.  Man's  body  was  the 
deity-substance,  the  Logos-element,  in  its  coarser  form.  Man's  intelli- 
gence was  composed  of  the  same  substance  in  finer  texture.  God  was  this 
Logos  in  the  most  rarefied  form.  Each  man  had  the  capacity  within 
himself,  by  refusing  to  be  disturbed  in  the  fluctuations  of  life's  varying 
fortunes  and  by  encouraging  others  to  do  likewise,  of  approaching  nearer 
and  nearer  to  that  perfection  found  in  God  himself.  In  the  main  these 
preachers  brought  to  their  followers  what  has  been  called  a  religion  of 
"attainment."1  The  emphasis  which  the  Johannine  writer  placed  upon 
the  self-possession  of  Jesus,  his  independent  volition,  his  self-contained 
power,  his  absolute  authority  in  action,  his  superiority  to  the  pressure  of 
earthly  events,  may  possibly  have  been  due  to  the  author's  desire  to 
present  the  founder  of  his  religion  to  the  best  advantage  among  people 
whose  ears  had  been  attuned  to  the  utterances  of  the  Cynic-Stoic 
preacher. 

In  the  same  environment  could  be  found  that  mysticism  in  the  mys- 
tery religions  which  involved  a  dualistic  world- view.  The  brotherhood  of 
believers  was  a  common  factor  in  the  life  of  the  Roman  Empire  at  the 
tune  of  the  appearance  of  the  Fourth  Gospel.  The  common  life  with 
the  deity  and  with  each  other,  the  rite  of  baptism,  and  the  sacred  meal, 
phenomena  frequently  claimed  as  indigenous  to  the  Christian  religion 
or  derived  from  Jewish  antecedents,  are  now  acknowledged  as  the  com- 
mon property  of  religious  societies  known  all  over  the  Mediterranean 
world.  These  mystery  cults  were  powerful  in  molding  and  conserving 
the  religious  life  of  the  Hellenistic  peoples.  Especially  is  this  true  of 
Asia  Minor,  the  early  home  of  the  Johannine  writer.2  To  this  locality 
had  come  from  the  Far  East  the  Babylonian  "Ishtar  and  Tammuz," 

1  S.  J.  Case,  The  Evolution  of  Early  Christianity,  pp.  279-83. 

2  Percy  Gardner,  The  Ephesian  Gospel. 


MAN  AND  THE  UNIVERSE  49 

from  the  South  the  Egyptian  "Isis  and  Serapis,"  from  the  nearer  East 
the  Syrian  "Aphrodite  and  Adonis,"  the  Phoenician  "Astart  and 
Eshmun,"  and  the  Cilician  "Atargatis."  From  Greece  across  the 
Aegaean  had  come  "Demeter  and  Dionysus."  These  various  immigrant 
cults  with  their  ritual  and  their  mystagogues  vied  with  the  native  cult 
of  "Cybele  and  Attis"  and  with  each  other  in  striving  to  meet  the  reli- 
gious needs  of  the  people.1 

The  rite  of  baptism  stands  at  the  doorway  of  the  mystic  fold  repre- 
sented by  these  religious  societies.  It  cannot  be  said  the  Fourth  Gospel, 
along  with  the  other  Christian  literature  of  the  early  period,  is  entirely 
dependent  upon  Jewish  usages  for  the  inclusion  of  baptism  among  the 
rites  of  the  Christian  confraternity.  In  earlier  times  in  Greece,  Demos- 
thenes when  engaged  in  a  tirade  against  his  rival  Aeschines  accused  him 
of  assisting  his  mother,  a  priestess  of  the  Phrygian-cult  deity  Sabazius, 
when  he  "  nightly  gave  the  initiates  the  fawnskin  and  baptized  them  and 
purified  them."2  In  later  times  Tertullian  is  very  definite  regarding 
baptism  among  the  pagan  cults.  In  his  treatise  on  the  subject  of  bap- 
tism he  writes  in  the  following  strain: 

Washing  is  the  channel  through  which  they  are  initiated  into  some  sacred 
rites — of  some  notorious  Isis  or  Mithras.  The  gods  themselves  likewise  they 
honor  by  washings.  Moreover,  by  carrying  water  around,  and  sprinkling  it, 
they  everywhere  expiate  [purify]  country-seats,  houses,  temples,  and  whole 
cities:  at  all  events  at  the  Apollinarian  and  Eleusinian  games  they  are  bap- 
tized ;  and  they  presume  that  the  effect  of  their  doing  that  is  their  regeneration 
and  the  remission  of  the  penalties  due  to  their  perjuries.3 

In  a  Mithra  liturgy  from  a  time  not  far  from  the  issuance  of  the 
Fourth  Gospel  expressions  occur  which  show  the  significance  of  this  rite 
and  which  also  depend  upon  identical  imagery  with  that  so  common  to 
readers  of  the  Johannine  literature.  This  will  bear  quotation  in  full: 

If  it  hath  pleased  you  to  grant  me  the  birth  to  immortality  that  I,  after  the 
present  distress  which  sore  afflicts  me,  may  gaze  upon  the  immortal  First  Cause 
with  the  immortal  Spirit  and  the  immortal  Water,  that  I  through  the  spirit 
may  be  born  again,  and  that  in  me  purified  by  the  sacred  rite  and  delivered 
from  guilt  the  Holy  Spirit  may  live  and  move.  Since  this  man  born  from  a 
mortal  womb  is  this  day  newly  begotten  by  thee,  since  by  the  counsel  of  God, 

1  S.  J.  Case,  The  Evolution  of  Early  Christianity,  pp.  285-330. 

2  Demosthenes  De  corona.     See  F.  Legge,  op.  cit.,  1, 138,  for  citation  and  discussion 
of  Orphic  societies. 

3  On  Baptism  5;  Anti-Nicene  Fathers,  III,  671. 


50  THE  WORLD-VIEW  OF  THE  FOURTH  GOSPEL 

marvellous  in  goodness,  he,  but  one  of  many  thousands,  has  been  born  to 
immortality,  he  aspires,  he  yearns,  to  adore  thee  with  all  the  faculties  that  he, 
but  a  man,  possesses.  Hail  to  thee,  Lord  of  Water,  Founder  of  the  Earth,  Ruler 
of  the  Spirit!  Born  again,  I  expire,  in  that  I  am  being  exalted,  and  as  I  am 
exalted,  I  die;  born  with  the  birth  that  begets  life  I  am  delivered  to  death  and 
go  the  way  that  thou  hast  instituted,  as  thou  hast  ordained  and  constituted 
the  sacrament.1 

In  these  cults  contemporaneous  with  the  beginnings  of  Christianity 
are  also  found  devices  calculated  to  induce  an  experience  on  the  part  of 
the  initiate  in  which  he  finds  himself  in  actual  communion  with  the  god. 
The  sacred  meal  plays  an  important  part  in  this  connection.  One  of  the 
few  liturgical  formulas  from  this  period  refers  to  a  Phrygian  ritual  in 
which  the  neophyte  exclaims,  "  I  have  eaten  from  the  tambourine,  I  have 
drunk  from  the  cymbal,  I  have  become  a  mystic  of  Attis."  Cumont  in 
commenting  upon  this  liturgy  writes,  ''Through  this  meal  the  neophyte 
becomes  a  brother  among  brothers,  having  common  unity  with  a  saving 
deity.  The  religious  bond  of  these  thiasoi  took  the  place  of  the  natural 
relationship  of  the  family,  the  gens,  or  the  clan."2  Similarly  in  the 
Fourth  Gospel  there  is  a  sodality  which  transcends  all  ties  of  natural 
kinship.  The  initiate  into  this  circle  enters  into  a  communion  with  the 
deity  expressed  in  language  readily  understood  by  people  acquainted 
with  the  mystery  religions  and  their  practices. 

The  open  sesame  into  the  Aladdin's  cave  where  the  mystery  cults 
guarded  their  treasures  of  religious  satisfaction  is  the  secret  word.  The 
reason  so  little  is  known  of  the  inner  life  of  these  societies  is  found  in 
this  fact.  In  the  Metamorphoses  of  Apuleius,  Lucius  declares  that  he  dare 
not  recount  his  initiatory  experiences  and  dismisses  the  subject  in  the 
words,  "I  have  told  you  of  things  which,  though  you  hear  them,  you 
cannot  understand."3  Similarly  in  -the  Fourth  Gospel  is  found  the 
"word"  mysterious  and  baffling  to  the  outsider,  but  replete  with  marvel- 
ous meaning  to  the  one  who  has  entered  the  charmed  circle  of  Christ's 
followers.  Jesus  says  to  his  disciples  that  his  words  are  spirit  and  life. 
If  the  disciples  continue  in  his  word  they  are  true  followers.  They  shall 
know  the  truth  and  the  truth  shall  make  them  free.  They  have  become 
purified  through  the  word  which  he  has  spoken  to  them.  Those  to 
whom  this  mystic  knowledge  has  been  revealed  stand  out  in  the  Fourth 
Gospel  as  a  select  society  possessed  of  esoteric  religious  treasures.  The 

1  Otto  Pfleiderer,  The -Early  Christian  Conception  of  Christ,  p.  21. 
3  Franz  Cumont,  Oriental  Religions  in  the  Roman  Paganism. 
3  Percy  Gardner,  The  Religious  Experience  of  St.  Paul,  p.  65. 


MAN  AND  THE  UNIVERSE  51 

"Paraclete"  is  to  interpret  the  meaning  of  the  secret  word  to  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Christian  group.  All  outside  the  mystic  ring  is  under  the 
dominion  of  Satan,  and  the  uninitiated  are  in  his  power  with  eyes  sealed 
to  the  glory  of  the  new  life  in  Christ.  Entrance  into  the  circle  breaks  the 
power  of  Satan,  dissevers  the  bonds  of  "the  world,"  and  insures  to  the 
believer  eternal  life. 

In  the  union  with  God  and  in  the  possession  of  blessed  knowledge 
the  believer  in  the  Johannine  sense  and  the  initiate  in  the  mystery  cults 
enjoyed  experiences  which  betokened,  not  only  a  victory  over  the  present 
environment,  but  a  future  of  continued  blissful  existence.  The  secret 
word  brought  a  guaranty  of  happiness  which  physical  death  enhanced 
rather  than  destroyed.  The  statement  has  been  made  that  the  emphasis 
in  the  Fourth  Gospel  is  more  on  the  present  than  on  the  future.  As 
regards  its  relation  to  the  other  writings  of  the  New  Testament  with 
their  use  of  contemporary  messianic  speculation  this  is  undoubtedly 
true.  Yet  it  must  not  be  inferred  that  the  present  scheme  of  things 
incloses  all  the  meaning  of  eternal  life  for  the  Johannine  writer.  His 
mysticism  carries  him  to  a  far  higher  level.  For  him  eternal  life  is  a 
beatific  state  untouched  by  the  "slings  and  arrows  of  outrageous  for- 
tune," and  death — the  end  of  earthly  existence — can  mean  only  a  closer 
union  with  the  divine  spirit.  "The  world  passe th  away  and  the  lust 
thereof,  but  he  that  doeth  the  will  of  God  abideth  for  ever."  After  like 
manner,  in  the  desire  for  a  blessed  immortality,  the  devotee  of  the 
mystery  cult  sets  earthly  comfort  and  material  welfare  in  the  background 
of  his  life-interests.  As  surely  as  he  enters  into  mystic  union  with  the 
god,  so  surely  will  he  with  the  god  face  a  future  of  unending  happiness. 
In  many  instances  the  seeker  after  this  blessedness  severed  himself 
from  all  natural  functioning  in  connection  with  the  continuance  of  the 
race.  Such  startling  facts  of  cult  history  serve  to  demonstrate  the 
terrific  earnestness  with  which  the  quest  of  eternal  life  was  pursued. 
The  provision  for  the  present  and  continued  well-being  of  the  soul 
demands  such  a  sacrifice  that  physical  integrity  and  continuance  are 
ignored  or  outraged.  Nothing  of  so  gross  a  character  is  found  in  the 
Johannine  writings.  Nevertheless  it  must  be  admitted  that  in  their 
world- view  it  is  always  the  spiritual  life,  the  inner  experience,  the  eternal 
aloofness  from  ordinary  features  of  human  activity  that  are  stressed; 
so  much  indeed  as  to  leave  the  physical  in  a  very  insignificant  light. 
Not  that  the  physical  is  made,  as  in  the  Orphic  communities,  the  basis 
of  evil  and  corruption.  The  writer  makes  himself  plain  enough  on  this 
point.  It  is  not  evil  except  as  it  is  held  in  the  clutch  of  the  malign  spirit. 


52  THE  WORLD-VIEW  OF  THE  FOURTH  GOSPEL 

Yet  it  is  only  a  shadow  in  comparison  with  the  spiritual  existence 
afforded  by  belief  in  Christ.  Its  needs,  its  significance,  and  its  persist- 
ence are  forgotten  altogether  in  the  rapt  vision  of  eternal  life  in  God. 

Thus  it  has  been  shown  that  the  problem  of  man  and  the  world  was 
approached  by  the  author  of  the  Fourth  Gospel  not  merely  through  the 
inheritance  of  thought  and  life  represented  by  the  earlier  records  of 
Christianity.  The  language,  the  thought-forms,  and  the  creative 
impulse  which  produced  this  literature  belong  in  a  very  vital  way  to  the 
wider  reach  of  life  in  the  Hellenistic  world.  His  environment  is  at 
once  the  home  and  the  product  of  Graeco-Roman  civilization  on  the 
crest  of  the  first  century  A.D.  The  widely  scattered  peoples  of  the  Near 
East  moved  gradually  into  a  unity  of  relationship  with  a  world-empire 
under  the  rule,  first  of  Persia,  then  of  Greece,  and  finally  of  Rome. 
Under  the  mild  imperial  yoke  the  conquered  races  learned  to  think  in 
terms  which  overreached  tribal  and  national  prejudices.  For  a  couple 
of  centuries  or  so  the  peoples  clustered  about  the  shores  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean Sea  mingled  their  races  and  religions,  their  manners  and  morals, 
in  a  crucible  of  Oriental  symbolism,  Greek  philosophy,  and  Latin  state- 
craft from  which  emerged  through  the  medium  of  the  Greek  language 
that  remarkable  syncretism  known  to  historical  students  as  Hellenistic 
culture.  From  Asia  Minor,  the  very  center  of  this  crucible,  where  the 
ancient  Assyrian,  Babylonian,  Phoenician,  Hebrew,  and  Egyptian 
cultures  strove  with  their  Greek  and  Roman  younger  rivals  to  express 
the  religious  life  of  the  people,  the  Johannine  writings  came  forth  into 
the  stream  of  the  world's  literature.  To  appreciate  the  success  with 
which  their  author  interpreted  the  Christian  message  in  terms  of  con- 
temporary philosophical  thought  and  religious  life  the  student  of  his- 
tory has  but  to  remember  how  large  a  place  these  writings  quickly  won 
in  the  early  church.  The  salvation  that  was  "of  the  Jews"  had  to  be 
presented  in  a  way  highly  normal  in  the  life  of  the  time  in  order  to  be 
appraised  and  accepted.  If  the  Christian  message  had  failed  of  an 
exponent  who  could  express  it  in  the  thought-  and  life-currency  of  the 
syncretistic  culture  the  Hellenistic  world  would  willingly  have  ignored 
and  speedily  have  forgotten  it.  The  supreme  achievement  in  this  regard 
may  be  accredited  to  the  Johannine  writer. 


CHAPTER  IV 
NEW  TESTAMENT  WORLD-VIEWS  AND  THEIR  INFLUENCE 

In  the  foregoing  chapters  attention  has  been  called  to  the  impor- 
tance of  the  world-view  for  a  correct  appreciation  of  the  task  accom- 
plished so  successfully  by  the  Johannine  writer.  The  reaching  out  after 
ways  in  which  man  may  overcome  the  limitations  of  life  in  a  temporal 
order,  the  assertion  of  mastery  over  the  natural  forces,  the  discovery 
of  agencies  whereby  the  world  may  in  some  measure  be  refashioned, 
the  constant  interaction  of  inherited  and  personal  tendencies — these 
common  phenomena  have  been  observed  in  the  various  world-views 
which  contributed  directly  or  indirectly  to  the  religious  life  of  the  Hellen- 
istic peoples  in  the  first  century  of  Christendom.  Man's  view  of  the 
universe  and  his  relation  to  it  appear  to  contribute  in  an  important 
manner  to  the  expression  of  his  personal  faith.  The  differences  in 
world-view  lead  to  changes  in  the  religious  attitude.  In  order  that 
such  conclusions  may  stand  out  more  clearly  a  study  of  one  phase  of  the 
situation  affecting  the  writers  of  early  Christianity  will  now  be  made. 
To  all  who  became  vitally  concerned  in  the  first  propaganda  of  the 
new  religion,  Jesus  had  achieved  distinction  as  a  Savior  through  whom 
real  religious  satisfaction  could  be  adequately  furnished.  In  this 
historical  fact  is  found  the  raison  d'etre  of  the  New  Testament.1  Yet 
a  change  of  world-view  created  different  representations  of  the  work 
and  worth  of  this  historical  personage  even  within  the  narrow  compass 
of  the  Christian  literary  canon. 

One  of  the  earliest  independent  witnesses  upon  this  question  is  the 
apostle  Paul.  To  him  Jesus  was  a  heavenly  being,  enjoying  in  his  pre- 
earthly  existence  equality  with  God  himself.  This  being  had  forsaken 
heaven,  lived  an  exemplary  earthly  life,  and  by  his  death  on  the  cross 
abrogated  the  ritualistic  aspects  of  the  Jewish  Torah.2  For  this  he  had 
received  exaltation  to  a  supreme  place  in  the  triune  sphere  of  heaven, 
earth,  and  the  lower  regions.  The  actual  earthly  ministry  of  Jesus 
appears  to  Paul  as  an  almost  negligible  interim  between  his  heavenly 
existence  and  his  death.  Paul  no  doubt  must  have  learned  of  the  facts 

1  See  S.  J.  Case,  The  Historicity  of  Jesus,  and  T.  J.  Thorburn,  The  Mythical 
Interpretation  of  the  Gospels,  for  discussions. 

2  Phil.  2:6-11. 

S3 


54  THE  WORLD-VIEW  OF  THE  FOURTH  GOSPEL 

of  Jesus'  life  from  the  Palestinian  disciples.  That  such  facts  did  not 
come  to  narration  in  any  definite  form  in  the  numerous  writings  of  Paul 
must  surely  be  significant.1  The  object  of  his  interest  and  devotion  is 
not  the  humble  Jesus  but  the  exalted  Christ.  This  heavenly  being  is 
able  to  communicate  his  spirit  to  all  who  confess  him  as  Lord  and  Savior. 
The  outward  marks  of  the  reception  of  this  spirit  are  displays  of  miracle- 
working,2  and  the  fruits  of  the  spirit-filled  life  are  again  and  again 
expressed  in  values  of  a  high  ethical  character.3 

The  inference  is  perhaps  valid  that  had  Paul  received  any  definite 
data  regarding  the  earthly  ministry  of  Jesus  he  would  have  recorded  of 
his  Master  similar  miracle-activity  to  that  which  he  had  realized  in  his 
own  personal  experiences  and  looked  for  in  the  lives  of  his  Christian 
contemporaries.  That  such  an  opinion  was  held  in  the  early  group 
known  to  Paul  is  evidenced  by  the  tradition  embodied  in  the  Acts 
narrative.4  If  this  came  within  Paul's  purview  its  vitality  for  him  was 
not  strong  enough  to  bespeak  for  it  a  place  in  the  message  of  the  apostle 
to  the  men  of  his  time.  His  Gospel  as  given  to  the  people  at  Corinth 
begins  strikingly  with  the  death  of  Jesus.5  It  is  the  risen  and  glorified 
Christ  who  demands  his  adoration  and  obedience.  Paul's  absorbing 
interest  is  in  a  heavenly  Lord  who  produces  wonder-working  in  the  lives 
of  his  adherents  and  promises  them  victory  over  all  demonic  powers.6 
This  superearthly  being  is  also  to  visit  the  earth  in  the  very  near  future, 
riding  upon  the  clouds  to  fulfil  the  Jewish  apocalyptic  messianic  expec- 
tations in  the  inauguration  of  a  regime  of  true  righteousness  upon  a 
renovated  earth,7  the  Jewish  Christians  to  constitute,  as  it  were,  an 
inner  circle  of  highly  privileged  participants  in  the  largesse  of  the 
Messiah-King.8  Features  of  the  supernatural  personality  and  operation 
of  a  savior-deity  such  as  obtained  in  connection  with  the  worship  of 
the  "Lord  Mithra"  of  the  Persian,  the  "Lord  Serapis"  of  the  Egyptian, 
and  the  "Lord  Augustus"  of  the  Roman  cults — familiar  enough  to  the 
Hellenistic  hearers  and  readers  of  Paul's  messages — were  blended  by  this 
early  Christian  preacher  with  elements  of  Jewish  legalism  and  Messianism 
from  which,  as  a  product  of  the  Hebrew  race  and  religion,  he  did  not 
find  it  either  convenient  or  necessary  to  free  himself. 

A  companion  picture  to  that  of  Paul,  and  one  which  may  be  taken 
as  dating  from  the  same  primitive  period  of  Christian  thought,  is  found 

1  Gal.  4:4.  si  Cor.  15:3-8. 

2Gal.  3:5;  I  Cor.  12:4-11.  6  Gal.  1:4. 

3  Gal.  5:19-26;  Rom.  12:3-21,6*  al.  7 1  Thess.  4:13-18;  IIThess.  2i2,etal. 

4  Acts  2: 22.  8  Rom.  11:24. 


NEW  TESTAMENT  WORLD-VIEWS  55 

in  the  source  material  used  by  the  Gospel  writers  and  designated  by 
some  New  Testament  scholars  as  "Q"  or  the  "Logia,"  While  in  Paul 
and  in  the  Acts  tradition  dynamic  manifestations  are  held  to  be  of 
highest  importance — in  the  former  on  the  part  of  Christians  and  in  the 
latter  on  the  part  of  Jesus  himself — an  investigation  of  these  narra- 
tives leads  to  the  conclusion  that  in  the  group  of  Jesus'  followers  to  whose 
religious  life  these  records  ministered  the  emphasis  was  laid  upon  the 
prophetic  rather  than  upon  the  dynamic  aspects  of  Jesus'  personality 
and  work.  In  these  sources  miracle-working  is  conspicuous  by  its 
almost  entire  absence.  The  first  appearance  of  Jesus  discovers  him 
returning  "full  of  the  spirit"1  or  "led  by  the  spirit"2  and  proceeding 
into  the  wilderness.  In  the  temptation  following,3  Jesus  is  represented 
as  distinctly  refusing  to  use  miracle  display  in  the  prosecution  of  his 
enterprise.  The  style  of  address  put  into  the  mouth  of  the  adversary 
"Satan"  gives  proof  that  to  the  group  using  this  tradition  Jesus  could 
wear  with  acceptance  such  titles  as  "  Son  of  God."  Yet  it  is  to  be  noted 
in  this  connection  that  the  miraculous,  as  such,  is  eliminated  from  the 
functioning  of  that  personality. 

This  neglect  of  the  patently  miraculous  is  characteristic  throughout 
the  entire  range  of  these  early  sources.  Dynamic  manifestations  of 
supernatural  personality  are  everywhere  either  entirely  absent  or  rele- 
gated to  the  shadowy  background,  while  in  the  foreground  of  the  picture 
stands  Jesus  as  the  incarnation  of  all  that  was  highest  and  best  in  the 
prophetic  tradition  so  dear  to  the  truly  religious  Hebrew.4  The  miracle 
narrative  of  the  centurion's  servant  turns  aside  for  a  brief  moment  from 
the  otherwise  purely  Jewish  cast  of  the  document  and  addresses  itself 
to  gentile  interests.5  In  the  other  remaining  record  of  miracle-activity 
there  is  a  close  likeness  to  the  tradition  in  Acts.  Jesus  casts  out  demons 
"by  the  finger  of  God."6  Here  and  in  Acts7  it  is  God  working  through 
Jesus  that  accomplishes  the  wonder,  and  not  the  personality  of  Jesus 
functioning  alone  in  a  supernatural  fashion.  Also,  according  to  Luke's 
source,  the  sons  of  those  who  criticized  Jesus  stood  on  the  same  footing 
with  him  in  the  realm  of  exorcism.8  It  must  be  inferred,  therefore,  that 
here  at  least  no  importance  whatever  can  be  attached  to  the  miracle 
narrative  as  witnessing  to  the  supernatural  character  of  Jesus*  worth  and 

1  Luke  4:  i.  2  Luke  4:1;  Matt.  4:1. 

3  Matt.  4:  i-n;  Luke  4: 1-13. 

4Matt.  11:7-19;  Luke  7:24-35;  Matt.  12:38-42;  Luke  11:24-36. 

s  Matt.  8:5-13;  Luke  7:1-10.  7Acts2:22. 

6  Luke  1 1 :  20.  8  Luke  11:19. 


56  THE  WORLD-VIEW  OF  THE  FOURTH  GOSPEL 

work.  It  is  the  preaching  of  Jesus  as  the  inheritor  of  the  best  Jewish 
traditions  that  gives  token  of  his  superior  personality  in  these  fragments 
of  primitive  Christian  thought.  Therein  are  displayed  his  prophetic 
credentials  and  the  verity  of  his  claims  to  leadership.  That  is  the  evi- 
dent sign,  ignored  by  the  many,  according  to  the  synoptists,1  but  wel- 
comed as  the  harbinger  of  a  new  day  by  those  from  whose  hands  have 
come  these  early  records  of  Jesus'  life  and  work. 

Remarkable  also  in  this  early  witness  to  the  ministry  of  Jesus  as 
conceived  by  the  people  of  that  day  is  the  meager  reference  to  his  death. 
This  fact  and  its  import,  so  alluring  to  the  religious  reflection  of  the 
apostle  Paul,  have  in  these  sources  practically  no  place  whatever.  Only 
vague  hints  are  found  that  can  be  associated  with  the  passing  of  the 
Master.2  These  may  merely  refer  to  the  kind  of  death  any  outstanding 
opponent  of  wrongdoing  and  wrong  thinking  may  look  for  at  the  hands 
of  those  who  have  become  wedded  to  their  evil  ways.  In  the  woes 
pronounced  upon  the  Jewish  religionists  there  is  a  saying  of  similar 
pattern  which  bears  out  this  interpretation.3  In  the  latter  portion  of 
these  sources  there  are  eschatological  teachings  which  portray  the  com- 
ing of  "a  Son  of  Man,"  "as  the  lightning  comes  from  the  East,"4  or  "as 
the  coming  of  the  deluge  in  the  days  of  Noah."5  From  such  sayings  as 
these  may  be  deduced  a  strong  supposition,  albeit  no  definite  proof,  that 
the  supernatural  personality  of  Jesus  was  expressed  to  these  early 
Jewish  Christians  in  terms  of  the  then  current  apocalyptic  Messianism. 
In  this  connection  it  may  be  of  service  to  note  that,  according  to  the 
Q  temptation  narrative,  the  other  kind  of  messianic  hope,  the  national 
type  so  fiercely  espoused  by  the  Zealots,  is  utterly  repudiated  by  the 
members  of  this  group.  The  demands  of  this  early  community  with 
respect  to  the  character  of  Jesus  appear  to  be  satisfied  by  presenting 
him  as  the  preacher  of  a  new  individual  and  social  righteousness  and 
the  herald  of  a  new  kingdom  soon  to  be  established  upon  the  earth  with 
himself  as  the  chief  executive. 

Another  source  apparently  independent  of  the  two  that  have  just 
been  considered  and  generally  accepted  as  springing  from  the  same 
early  period  in  the  development  of  Christian  thought  concerning  the 
character  of  Jesus'  ministry  is  that  furnished  by  the  Gospel  bearing  the 
name  of  Mark.  The  religious  needs  of  the  primitive  Christian  group, 
for  which  or  by  which  this  Gospel  was  evoked,  created  a  representation 

1  Matt.  12:38-42;  Luke  11:29-32.  «  Matt.  24:26-27;  Luke  17:  23-24. 

2  Matt.  10:38;  Luke  14:27.  sMatt.  24:37-39;  Luke  17:26-27. 

3  Matt.  23:34-46;  Luke  11:49-51. 


NEW  TESTAMENT  WORLD-VIEWS  57 

of  Jesus  as  a  dynamic  personality  of  the  first  rank.  According  to  Mark 
the  supernatural  equipment  with  which  to  carry  on  the  work  came  to 
Jesus  at  his  baptism  by  John  straight  from  the  sky  as  the  "Holy  Spirit" 
in  the  form  of  a  dove  and  as  a  voice  of  deity  evidencing  to  Jesus  his 
divine  sonship.1  Mark  does  not  in  so  many  words  state  that  Jesus 
won  the  victory  over  Satan  in  the  wilderness  encounter  which  followed. 
He  leaves  this  to  be  inferred  by  reason  of  the  fact  that  shortly  afterward 
Jesus  meets  one  of  Satan's  satellites  who  evidently  has  received  a  warn- 
ing as  to  the  superior  power  of  the  newcomer.  At  the  meeting  in  the 
synagogue,  according  to  the  Markan  statement,  this  malevolent  spirit 
is  ignominiously  cast  out  of  the  man  within  whom  he  had  been  opera- 
tive.2 The  extraordinary  character  of  Jesus  is  also  revealed  in  the 
record  that  he  was  with  the  wild  animals  in  the  wilderness  and  remained 
unhurt,  receiving  there  the  ministrations  of  angelic  visitants.3 

Throughout  the  Gospel  of  Mark  the  characteristic  activity  of  his 
hero  is  that  of  miracle-working,  especially  in  the  realms  of  healing  and 
exorcism.  As  is  well  known,  there  were  other  wonder-workers  in  the 
period  from  which  this  record  takes  its  color,  each  with  his  own  curative 
modus  operandi.  The  significance  of  Jesus  for  Mark  is  not  so  much  that 
wonders  were  wrought,  but  that  these  were  of  such  a  notable  character. 
The  efficiency  with  which  Jesus  worked  set  him  as  one  far  above  the  com- 
mon crowd  of  miracle  mongers.4  All  the  manifestations  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  which  Paul  realized  in  his  own  Christian  experience  and  eagerly 
expected  in  the  experience  of  all  who  unquestioningly  accepted  his 
message  concerning  the  lordship  of  Jesus  are  produced  by  the  Gospel  of 
Mark  as  an  integral  part  of  the  Master's  own  mission  while  on  the  earth. 
Jesus  is  represented  as  sending  forth  disciples  to  carry  on  the  work  which 
he  has  inaugurated,  "  to  preach,  to  have  power  to  heal  sickness,  and  to 
cast  out  demons."5  Here  are  set  forth  the  main  features  of  Jesus' 
ministry  according  to  the  Markan  picture.  The  connection  of  Jesus 
with  any  form  of  the  zealotic  messianic  hope  is  in  Mark,  as  in  Q,  dis- 
tinctly disavowed,  as  instanced  in  the  messianic  ascription  of  Peter  at 
Caesarea  Philippi  and  its  immediate  correction  by  Jesus  himself.6 

The  main  body  of  opinion  anent  the  person  and  worth  of  Jesus  set 
forth  in  the  Gospel  of  Mark  may  be  summed  up  as  follows:  From  his 
baptism  Jesus  gave  indubitable  evidence  of  possessing  supernatural 

1  Mark  1 19-11.  «  Mark  1:27,  28. 

2  Mark  i :  23-26.  s  Mark  3:14,  15. 
s  Mark  1 113.                                              6  Mark  8:27-33. 


58  THE  WORLD-VIEW  OF  THE  FOURTH  GOSPEL 

power.1  This  power  came  to  expression  in  his  unique  control  of  evil 
forces — Satan,  the  demon-possessed — and  of  natural  processes.  Such 
extraordinary  effectiveness  in  dealing  with  demonic  powers  denoted 
Jesus  as  representative  of  a  new  earthly  regime.  The  ministry  in 
Palestine  was  preliminary,  opening  the  way  for  the  coming  completeness 
of  the  kingdom  upon  a  miraculously  renovated  earth  subsequent  to  a 
day  of  judgment  for  all  people.2  Jesus  in  the  nature  of  things  died  in 
order  to  leave  the  earth,  go  to  heaven,  and  there  hold  himself  in  readiness 
to  come  to  earth  again  at  the  divinely  appointed  time.  The  supernatural 
significance  of  Jesus  in  this  program  of  events  was  clear  to  him  during  his 
earthly  life  and  also  evident  to  the  demons  whose  power  he  opposed  and 
dispelled.3  Jesus  time  and  again  endeavored  to  make  this  known  to  his 
intimate  associates,  but  was  unsuccessful  owing  to  their  astonishing 
obtuseness.4  On  the  other  hand  Jesus  guarded  this  knowledge  from 
the  Jews  generally  for  fear  that  their  non-apocalyptic  Messianism  might 
fix  on  him  for  its  focus  and  thus  spoil  the  apocalyptic  program.5  Jesus 
went  willingly  to  his  death  that  he  might  have  his  place  in  the  future 
appearance  from  heaven  of  the  complete  messianic  world-order.6  The 
resurrection  experiences  of  the  close  friends  of  Jesus  fully  revealed  to  them 
the  real  worth  of  their  Master  as  the  Messiah  whose  earthly  supernatural 
activity  had  been  preparatory — as  also  should  be  their  own — to  the 
establishment  of  a  heavenly  regime  coming  from  above  in  a  miraculous 
fashion  to  assume  its  sway  upon  the  earth.7 

In  the  sources  that  have  been  examined  so  far  the  early  Christian 
conceptions  with  respect  to  the  career  of  Jesus  have  been  observed  to 
undergo  certain  modifications  due  to  the  needs  of  different  communities 
utilizing  these  writings,  or  to  the  particular  interests  of  the  narrator.  In 
these  modifications  may  be  discovered  a  movement  away  from  the 
presentation  of  Jesus  as  a  strictly  superearthly  character  because  of  his 
death  and  resurrection,  to  that  which  pictures  his  work  on  earth  subse- 
quent to  the  baptism  episode  as  displaying  a  supernatural  stamp.  This 
earthly  activity  is  in  the  Logia  prevailingly  Jewish  in  interest  and  out- 
look, and  in  the  Gospel  of  Mark  prevailingly  Hellenistic,  with  Paul 
occupying  a  middle  place  between  these  two. 

1  Mark  1:13,  27.  a  Mark  1:24,  34;  3:11;  5:7. 

2  Mark  10:35-40;  13:24-27.  « Mark  9:10,  31,  32. 
s  Mark  1:34;  3:12;  5:43;   7:36;  8:26,30;  9:9. 

6  Mark  9:31;   10:32-34;   13:26,27;   13:28-32. 

7  Mark  14:61,  62;  Mark  13:9,  10. 


NEW  TESTAMENT  WORLD-VIEWS  59 

Coming  now  to  the  Gospels  bearing  the  names  of  Matthew  and 
Luke  it  is  at  once  remarked  that  the  Jewish  and  Hellenistic  phenomena 
of  the  earlier  sources  are  taken  over  and  harmonized.  The  presenta- 
tion of  the  person  and  work  of  Jesus  in  both  of  these  documents  is  sub- 
stantially the  same.  To  both  the  unique  character  of  the  Christian's 
Lord  comes  to  view  in  teaching — or  preaching — and  in  miracle-activity. 
In  both,  the  traits  which  in  the  earlier  writings  mark  the  humanity  of 
the  subject  are  eliminated,  and  fresh,  clear  colors  are  introduced  to  por- 
tray him  as  supernatural,  not  merely  from  the  baptism  at  the  Jordan, 
but  from  a  human-divine  miscegenation.  It  is  not  enough  for  these 
Christian  writers  that  their  Master  receive  the  Holy  Spirit  at  the  time  of 
submitting  to  the  rite  performed  by  John  the  Baptist;  he  must  appear  as 
a  distinct  superearthly  being  even  at  his  birth.1  The  importance  of  the 
divine  voice  at  the  baptism  as  marking  out  for  Jesus  his  extraordinary 
prerogatives  is  considerably  lessened  or  altogether  neglected.2  Matthew 
can  furnish  heavenly  voices  to  Joseph  and  to  the  wise  men.3  Luke  can 
tell  of  angel  communications  to  the  parents  of  John  and  Jesus  and  to 
the  Bethlehem  shepherds.4  From  such  sources  both  writers  are  satisfied 
that  the  evidence  points  to  the  supernatural  character  of  the  babe  and 
the  singularity  of  the  career  upon  which  he  emerges.  Matthew  and  Luke 
include  in  their  writings  certain  early  traditions5  showing  an  interest  in 
tracing  the  genealogy  of  Jesus  back  through  Hebrew  connections  to 
David  and  thence  to  Abraham — in  the  tradition  copied  by  Luke  reaching 
as  far  back  as  Adam,  who  is  called  "  son  of  God."  Such  traditions  appear 
to  have  risen  from  Palestinian  interests,  certainly  from  Jewish  interest 
whether  of  Palestine  or  of  the  Diaspora,  and  originally  belong  to  a  period 
when  the  conception  of  the  work  of  Jesus  is  still  satisfied  with  his  earthly 
parentage  and  in  this  case  is  somewhat  concerned  to  retain  elements 
appertaining  to  the  Davidic  national  messianic  hope,  a  hope  so  comforting 
to  many  devout  Jews  of  that  time.  Matthew  includes  this  material  with- 
out appearing  to  notice  that  it  is  rendered  unnecessary  by  his  full  dis- 
cussion of  the  miraculous  conception  and  birth.  Luke,  conscious  to 
some  extent  of  the  incongruity  of  the  included  tradition,  salves  his 

1  Matt,  i :  18;  Luke  i :  34,  35. 

2  In  Mark  i :  n  the  voice  of  witnessing  at  the  baptism  is  addressed  to  Jesus,  while 
in  Matt.  3:17  to  the  bystanders.    For  Matthew  there  is  no  need  of  the  testimony  on 
the  part  of  Jesus.    He  is  conscious  of  messianic  mission  from  the  first.    Only  the  people 
needed  the  witness. 

3  Matt,  i :  18-25 ;  2 : 1-23. 

4  Luke  1:11  fL;  2:8-20.  s  Matt.  1:1-17;  Luke  3: 23-28. 


60  THE  WORLD-VIEW  OF  THE  FOURTH  GOSPEL 

literary  and  historical  conscience  by  prefacing  this  note  to  the  genea- 
logical table  copied  by  him,  "And  Jesus  himself  began  to  be  about 
thirty  years  of  age,  being  as  was  supposed  the  son  of  Joseph."1 

There  is  much  evidence  to  support  the  contention  that  in  Matthew 
and  Luke  the  references  of  earlier  traditions  to  purely  human  traits 
in  the  personality  of  Jesus  are  either  modified  or  omitted  under  the 
influence  of  the  conception  held  by  these  later  Christian  writers  of  their 
Master  as  a  truly  divine  being  through  all  of  his  ministry  upon  the 
earth,  indeed  through  his  entire  earthly  existence.  The  Logia  is  content 
to  say  of  the  preaching  of  Jesus  that  it  was  greater  than  that  of  Jonah, 
and  of  his  wisdom  that  it  exceeded  Solomon's.2  Matthew  goes  much 
farther  than  this.  He  makes  Jesus  tower  above  Moses,  the  traditional 
father  of  the  Jewish  Law.  Indeed  he  goes  so  far  as  to  represent  Jesus 
on  his  own  responsibility  putting  such  an  interpretation  upon  the  leading 
rubrics  of  the  Mosaic  legislation  as  would  constitute  the  interpreter  a 
creator  of  an  entirely  new  ethic  far  transcending  all  previous  pronounce- 
ments in  the  realm  of  religion  or  of  morals.3 

Of  course  all  this  is  done  without  any  suggestion  of  a  breaking  away 
from  Jewish  religious  antecedents  in  the  words  and  work  of  Jesus.4  Mat- 
thew is  very  careful  to  have  the  incidents  in  the  life  of  his  Lord  fulfil  in 
the  most  meticulous  manner  various  sayings  culled  from  the  Jewish  sacred 
writings.  Instances  of  this  are  found  in  Matt.  2: 15,  where  the  words  of 
Hos.  1 1 :  i  create  in  the  writer's  mind  the  necessity  for  a  sojourn  in 
Egypt  of  Joseph  and  Mary  with  their  child,  and  notably  in  Matt.  21:1- 
u,  where  the  rhetorical  pleonasm  of  Zech.  9:9  leads  the  New  Testament 
writer  to  change  his  Markan  source  (Mark  11:1-10)  and  introduce  two 
animals  into  the  account  of  the  entry  of  Jesus  into  Jerusalem.  The 
Matthaean  sublimation  of  the  personality  of  Jesus  comes  into  clear 
perspective  in  the  change  from  Mark  10:17,  18,  "Why  callest  thou  me 
good?"  to  Matt.  19:16,  "Why  askest  thou  me  concerning  the  good?" 
The  Markan  record  that  Jesus  refused  to  accept  deific  terms  of  address 
does  not  at  all  meet  with  the  approval  of  the  later  author.  Matthew 
changes  Mark  6:3,  "Is  not  this  the  carpenter?"  to  "Is  not  this  the 
carpenter's  son?"  Matt.  13:55,  for  he  is  unwilling  to  allow  that  Jesus 
was  ever  designated  as  a  carpenter  by  his  contemporaries.  An  unmis- 
takable instance  of  this  tendency  is  found  in  the  change  from  Mark  1:32, 
33,  "They  brought  unto  him  all  that  were  diseased,  and  them  that 
were  possessed  with  devils  ....  and  he  healed  many  that  were  sick  of 

1  Luke  3: 23.  *  Matt.  5:  iff.;  19:7-9,16-22. 

2  Matt.  12:38-42;  Luke  11:29-32.  "Matt.  5:17-19. 


NEW  TESTAMENT  WORLD-VIEWS  61 

divers  diseases,  and  cast  out  many  devils  .  ..."  to  Matt.  8:16, 
".  .  .  .  they  brought  unto  him  many  that  were  possessed  with  devils, 
and  he  cast  out  the  spirits  with  a  word,  and  healed  all  that  were  sick." 
Matthew  cannot  endure  the  limitation  of  the  healer's  power  so  frankly 
admitted  in  the  Markan  narrative. 

The  saying  of  Jesus'  relatives  and  friends  reflecting  on  the  sanity  of 
the  Galilean  preacher  is  omitted  by  both  Matthew  and  Luke  when 
following  the  Markan  source.1  References  in  Mark  that  portray 
Jesus  in  the  exhibition  of  human  emotion  are  also  strictly  avoided.2 
In  Mark,  Jesus  acknowledges  his  own  ignorance  of  the  time  when  the 
great  day  of  judgment  is  to  arrive,  while  Matthew,  by  dropping  out  the 
words  "neither  the  Son,"  rather  neatly  avoids  what  to  him  would  have 
been  an  impossible  admission  on  the  part  of  Jesus.3 

In  all  the  foregoing  there  is  an  agreement  between  Matthew  and  Luke 
that  earlier  presentations  such  as  that  of  Mark  must  be  relieved  of  ele- 
ments which  properly  inhere  in  a  personage  operating,  albeit  super- 
naturally,  within  distinctly  human  limits.  By  both  of  these  writers  the 
supernatural  features  of  the  earlier  pictures  are  brought  into  clearer  light 
and  the  human  elements  are  allowed  to  disappear.  The  comparison  of 
these  with  the  more  primitive  sources  reveals  the  Christian  interest  in  the 
supernatural  personality  and  work  of  Jesus  in  the  process  of  development 
from  a  conception  of  him  as  a  prophetic  functionary  or  a  worker  of 
wonders  to  that  of  him  as  possessing  the  power  of  a  god.  The  earlier 
portrait  of  a  mere  human  person  operating  by  word  or  by  deed  in  a 
supernatural  fashion  is  transformed  into  a  representation  of  one  whose 
attitude,  despite  his  human  form  and  speech,  is  that  of  deity  itself  through- 
out the  entire  earthly  career  on  record.  Whether  the  author  of  the 
statement  in  Matt.  28: 16  is  or  is  not  the  author  of  the  Gospel,  it  gives 
evidence  of  the  perfection  toward  which  this  development  steadily 
moved  in  the  early  years  of  the  rise  of  Christianity  as  a  world-religion. 
There  the  Lord  of  the  Christians,  in  the  white  light  that  beats  upon  a 
solitary  throne,  is  represented  as  being  able  to  say,  "All  authority  is 
given  unto  me  in  heaven  and  upon  earth." 

So  far  the  sources  being  examined  have  shown  elements  mainly  of  a 
Hebraic  cast  with  reference  to  the  career  of  Jesus.  From  Paul  to 
Matthew  and  Luke,  although  the  Hellenistic  environment  never 

1  Mark  3:21;  cf.  Matt.  12:22  ff.;  and  Luke  11:14  ff. 

'Mark  3:5;  cf.  Matt.  12  f.  Mark  1:43;  cf.  Matt.  8:4.  Mark  10:21;  cf. 
Matt.  19: 20  f. 

3  Mark  13:32;  cf.  Matt.  24:36. 


62  THE  WORLD-VIEW  OF  THE  FOURTH  GOSPEL 

disappears,  the  bolder  outlines  of  the  picture  of  the  early  Christian's  Lord 
stand  out  in  distinctly  Jewish  colors.  The  urge  of  the  messianic  hopes 
cherished  by  the  Jewish  race  is  seen  behind  all  the  literature  of  the  first 
beginnings  of  Christianity.  Not  that  Messianism  as  such  had  no 
existence  in  the  Hellenistic  consciousness.1  The  Latin  poet  Virgil  is 
only  one  among  many  who  in  this  period  gave  literary  expression  to  a 
longing  that  played  no  minor  part  in  the  life  of  the  Mediterranean 
peoples.  This  poet  in  the  Aeneid  vi.  788  ff.  refers  to  the  emperor,  his 
royal  patron,  as  follows,  "This  is  the  man  whom  you  have  often  heard 
promised  to  you,  Augustus  Caesar,  offspring  of  a  god,  who  shall  establish 
again  the  golden  age  of  Latium."  From  what  has  been  discovered  of  the 
tendency  among  the  inhabitants  of  Greece  and  Asia  Minor  to  attach 
religious  significance  and  heavenly  hopes  to  the  person  of  a  Roman 
overlord2  it  is  but  natural  to  feel  that  literature  such  as  that  in  the  New 
Testament,  coming  to  birth  in  more  or  less  near  contact  with  this  kind 
of  an  environment,  cannot  have  derived  its  eudaemonistic  future  exclu- 
sively from  current  Judaism.  Yet  it  is  not  until  early  Christianity  takes 
upon  itself  features  similar  to  those  found  in  the  Fourth  Gospel  that 
the  Jewish  elements  lose  their  paramount  importance  for  the  followers  of 
Jesus.  As  the  writer  of  this  remarkable  work  contemplated  the  career 
of  the  founder  of  Christianity,  the  messianic  concepts  which  had  been  so 
vigorous  in  the  thinking  of  those  Christians  to  whose  religion  the  earlier 
literature  had  ministered,  although  present  in  the  spoken  or  written 
tradition  to  which  he  had  access,  were  by  this  time  and  in  this  locality 
so  etiolated  and  weak  that  he  was  unable  to  use  them  in  the  corporate 
structure  of  his  argument.  His  message  has  undoubtedly  elements  that 
are  futuristic  and  of  Jewish  messianic  lineage.  Yet  these  have  such  a 
separateness  from  the  author's  main  treatment  of  the  supernatural 
personality  and  work  of  Jesus  as  to  appear  almost  as  extraneous  and 
functionless  as  barnacles  on  the  hull  of  a  ship. 

If  the  Jewish  elements  of  the  primitive  Christian  tradition  have 
lost  their  charm  for  the  author  of  the  Fourth  Gospel  it  is  only  that  the 
Hellenistic  elements,  which  operated  in  the  early  tradition  with  increasing 

1  The  early  literature  of  the  Assyrio-Babylonian  peoples  as  well  as  that  of  the 
Hellenes  and  the  people  of  Latium  is  full  of  reference  to  a  coming  age  whose  happy 
character  makes  possible  the  patient  endurance  of  present  hardship  in  the  anticipation 
of  permanent  future  satisfaction. 

2  rbv  fab  "Apews   Kal  'A0po5e(i)T77S   6tbv   iirHpavr)  KO.I  KOivbv  TOV   avdpw-rrivov  plov 
ffwTTjpa.    An  Ephesian  inscription  to  Julius  Caesar.    Deissman,  op.  cit.  (trans.), 
p.  348,  n.  4. 


NEW  TESTAMENT  WORLD-VIEWS  63 

success  to  sublimate  the  character  of  Jesus  and  his  work,  may  come  into 
full  prominence.  The  developmental  process  comes  at  this  point  to 
complete  fruitage.  The  Lord  of  the  Christian  is  become  "very  God  of 
very  God,"  and  the  present  regnancy  of  his  eternal  kingdom  permits 
scant  importance  to  be  attached  to  apocalyptic  and  future  programs. 
The  common  Hellenistic  notion  that  the  divine  and  the  human  are  in 
essence  the  same  made  it  easy  for  the  author  of  this  Gospel  to  put  the 
finishing  touches  to  the  picture  of  Jesus  as  a  truly  deific  personality, 
while  at  the  same  time  allowing  that  personality  to  express  itself  in  a 
form  undeniably  human  in  every  particular. 

To  the  writer  of  this  later  document  every  human  being  has  the 
Logos  element.1  In  pre-Christian  times  this  element  was  in  more  note- 
worthy diffusion  among  the  Jewish  race  in  preparation  for  the  coming  of 
Logos  fully  in  the  person  of  Jesus.  The  Jews,  racially  considered,  had 
refused  to  accept  Jesus  as  God;  that  is,  as  the  completest  expression  in 
human  form  of  the  Logos.  By  such  an  attitude  they  stood  shorn  of  all 
place  in  the  new  kingdom.  Where  the  writers  of  Mark  or  of  Matthew 
introduce  sects  of  Judaism,  such  as  the  Pharisees  and  Sadducees,  or, 
with  a  little  wider  scope,  the  scribes,  the  author  of  the  Fourth  Gospel 
almost  invariably  makes  use  of  the  national  term  "the  Jews,"  thereby 
accusing  the  nation  as  a  whole  of  the  unpardonable  sin,  namely,  the 
refusal  to  see  in  Jesus  one  whose  earthly  being  was  fully  contained  by  the 
divine  essence.2 

Qn  the  one  side  of  the  evangelist's  shield  there  are  somber  shadows 
surrounding  the  repudiation  of  Jesus  by  the  Jewish  race.  The  other  side 
of  the  shield  is  radiant  with  hope  for  the  Hellenistic  peoples  under  the 
sway  of  Rome.  The  message  of  Jesus  may  have  been  an  enigma  to 
Nicodemus,3  the  rabbi  of  Jerusalem,  but  its  terms  are  the  common 
property  of  the  humblest  folk  of  the  Ephesian  locality,  acquainted  as  they 
are  with  the  various  mystery  cults  of  the  Empire.  The  phrase  "born 
again,"  so  familiar  to  us  from  our  acquaintance  with  the  Nicodemus 
narrative,  was  in  widest  use  among  the  votaries  of  the  Hellenistic 
mystery  religions.4  Thus  the  significance  of  Jesus  is  turned  away  from 
the  somewhat  circumscribed  Jewish  racial  circle  of  the  earlier  sources 
and  interpreted  in  terms  that  are  calculated  to  appeal  urgently  to  the 
entire  Hellenistic  civilization  of  that  period. 

In  the  Logia  the  figure  of  Jesus  is  that  of  the  Jewish  prophet.  His 
work  is  highly  ethical,  calling  the  people  to  more  exalted  standards  of 

1  John  1 13,  9.  3  John  3: 1-15. 

2  John  2:18;   5:10  ff.;   6:41  £F.  "  Pfleiderer,  op.  cit.,  p.  21. 


64  THE  WORLD-VIEW  OF  THE  FOURTH  GOSPEL 

human  relationship;  truly  religious,  stressing  the  possibilities  of  closer 
fellowship  with  God,  the  great  Father  of  all;  eminently  practical, 
expressing1  itself  in  the  removal  of  individual  and  social  disabilities; 
self-renunciatory,  demanding  on  the  part  of  both  teacher  and  disciple 
entire  relinquishment  of  home  comforts  and  even  family  obligations; 
inerrantly  Jewish,  linking  itself  up  with  the  prophetism  of  John  the 
Baptist,  albeit  heralding  a  new  and  more  revolutionary  order  of  things  ; 
and  in  its  later  stages  markedly  eschatological,  presenting  the  repentance 
preacher  as  one  who  was  to  come  again  "in  the  name  of  the  Lord"1  to  sit 
in  judgment,  along  with  his  close  followers,  upon  the  faithless  and  the 
unrepentant.  In  the  Fourth  Gospel  the  discourse  material  is  not  so 
much  ethical  as  theological  and  apologetic.  Here  the  practical  gives 
way  to  the  philosophic  treatment.  The  miracles  are  wrought  not  so 
much  for  the  amelioration  of  human  conditions  as  for  the  settled  purpose 
of  producing  faith  in  Jesus  as  the  heaven-sent  Logos.2 

Paul  could  conceive  of  greater  exaltation  coming  to  his  Lord  because 
of  the  humility  of  his  coming  to  earth  and  the  covenantal  efficacy  of  his 
death.  In  the  Fourth  Gospel  there  is  no  diminution  at  any  time  of 
divine  power  on  the  part  of  Jesus.  He  maintains  all  through  his  career 
the  attitude  of  deity,  knowing  every  event  in  the  womb  of  the  future. 
As  for  the  death  of  Jesus,  instead  of  associating  it  with  the  setting  aside 
of  the  Jewish  Law  or  with  speculation  regarding  the  righteousness  of 
God,  the  author  of  this  Hellenistic-Christian  message  thinks  of  it  as 
being  solely  for  the  purpose  of  making  possible  a  wider  spreading  of  the 
Logos  than  could  obtain  so  long  as  it  was  confined  in  the  earthly  body 
of  Jesus.  The  cross,  which  had  such  doctrinal  significance  for  the 
thought  of  Paul,  figures  for  the  evangelist  simply  as  an  instrument  for 
the  elevation  of  the  earthly  Jesus,  that  all  may  see  in  him  the  divine 
essence  and  in  acknowledging  this  fact  may  receive  the  same  for  them- 
selves.3 

Mark  could  believe  that  the  supernatural  character  of  Jesus'  person 
and  work  dated  from  his  baptism  experience.  Matthew  and  Luke 
could  go  farther  and  find  this  peculiar  phenomenon  attached  to  the  birth. 
It  remained  for  the  writer  of  the  Fourth  Gospel  to  carry  the  significance 
back  into  eternity  itself.  To  him  the  Logos  was  "in  the  beginning  with 
God"  and  in  fact  was  identical  with  God.4  For  him  Jesus,  the  human 
embodiment  of  this  Logos,  was  able  to  say  to  his  Jewish  compatriots, 


1  Luke  13  135;  Matt.  19:28. 

2  John  9  :  3  ;  1  1  :  4.  4  John  i  :  i  .    The  Logos  was  "  God-stuff." 


NEW  TESTAMENT  WORLD-VIEWS  65 

"Before  Abraham  was,  I  am."1  Matthew  could  find  in  the  Jewish 
Scriptures  various  references  to  the  career  of  Jesus,  especially  with 
regard  to  its  messianic  aspects.2  The  evangelist  makes  Moses  himself  a 
specific  witness  to  Jesus.3  The  very  Scriptures  themselves  testify  of  the 
eternal  life  which  Jesus  mediates.  In  mystic  fashion  Abraham,  the 
progenitor  of  the  Hebrew  people,  had  communion  with  Jesus  and 
" rejoiced  to  see  his  day."4  The  evangelist  goes  even  farther  than  the 
earlier  Gospel  writers  in  demonstrating  the  way  in  which  Scripture  was 
fulfilled  in  the  events  of  Jesus'  ministry.  An  example  of  this  is  found 
in  John  19: 28,  where  the  writer  represents  Jesus  in  the  last  moments  on 
the  cross  as  crying  out,  "I  thirst,"  not  because  of  dire  physical  need,  but 
in  order  "that  the  Scripture  be  fulfilled."  This  last  reference  is  in  com- 
plete accord  with  the  dominant  motif  throughout  the  Fourth  Gospel. 
The  result  of  its  operation  is  seen  in  the  fact  that  all  the  earthly  incidents 
and  all  the  human  features  in  the  ministry  of  Jesus  appear  to  have  been 
prearranged  perfectly  in  a  scheme  having  for  its  main  object  the  revela- 
tion of  the  god  or  Logos  element  through  every  word  and  act  of  Jesus. 
The  miracle  narratives  almost  without  exception  are  set  forth  by  the 
writer,  not  in  the  natural  and  historical  sequence  observed  more  or  less 
clearly  in  the  synoptic  sources,  but  in  order  to  serve  as  introductions  to 
long  discourses  in  which  Jesus  teaches,  in  terms  coined  in  a  Hellenistic, 
philosophic  mint,  doctrines  having  to  do  with  the  uniqueness  of  his 
Logos-filled  person  and  with  the  all-embracing  significance  of  his  mis- 
sion upon  the  earth.  That  this  procedure  does  violence  in  any  way  to 
historical  credence  or  to  the  psychology  of  the  Jewish  mind  creates  no 
problem  for  the  author  of  the  Fourth  Gospel,  although  it  has  done  this 
for  his  interpreters  almost  ever  since  the  appearance  and  first  use  of  the 
document  in  both  Christian  and  non-Christian  circles. 

All  the  sources  preceding  the  Fourth  Gospel  agree  in  making  the 
earthly  career  of  Jesus  preliminary  to  a  future  inauguration  of  a  messianic 
order.  The  official  position  of  Jesus  while  upon  earth  is  thought  by  their 
compilers  to  be  somewhat  inferior  to  that  which  he  gained  through  his 
death  and  which  is  to  be  revealed  in  all  its  plenitude  at  the  inception  of 
the  apocalyptic  regime.  Throughout  all  these  writings  there  is  a  forward 
look.  In  the  Fourth  Gospel  this  forward  look  has  to  all  intents  and  pur- 
poses entirely  disappeared.  Messianic  hopes  are  no  longer  needed. 
The  coming  of  the  spirit  upon  the  first  followers  of  Jesus — given  by 
the  Evangelist  as  dating  from  the  day  of  the  resurrection  experiences 

1  John  9 158.  3  John  5 146. 

2 Matt.  2:5,  6,  15,  23;  4:15;  21:5;  26:54;  27:9.  4  John  9:56. 


66  THE  WORLD-VIEW  OF  THE  FOURTH  GOSPEL 

and  not  from  Pentecost1  as  stated  by  the  other  writers — actually  intro- 
duced the  new  order  of  things.  This  obviated  all  necessity  for  desiring  a 
future  apocalyptic  kingdom.  In  the  view  of  the  Johannine  writer  the 
day  of  judgment  is  not  a  future  necessity  but  a  present  and  dark  reality.2 
It  is  not  so  much  universal  as  individual,  coming  to  each  as  he  assumes 
a  definite  attitude  to  Jesus  as  the  heaven-sent  Logos-Savior.  In  this 
scheme  no  congruous  place  is  left  for  Jewish  national  hopes  attached  to 
the  return  of  a  messianic  ruler.  Jesus  can  face  Pilate  with  the  assertion 
that  he  is  king  in  a  realm  of  truth  standing  aloof  from  all  national  or 
political  affiliations  and  yet  embracing  every  earthly  and  human  rela- 
tion in  a  spiritual  suzerainty.3  The  emphasis  in  the  earlier  sources  is 
placed  on  the  zeal  and  faithfulness  of  the  Christian  in  preparation  for 
the  imminent  appearance  of  a  new  age.4  The  emphasis  in  the  Fourth 
Gospel  finds  itself  coupled  with  passive  acceptance  of  the  Logos  element 
by  faith  in  Jesus  as  the  pre-eminent  Logos-filled  personage,  and  with 
the  enjoyment  of  a  mystic  union  with  the  deity  here  and  now.5  For 
those  who  possess  this  experience  an  eternal  spiritual  order  interpene- 
trating and  glorifying  all  human  affairs  has  become  a  satisfying  religious 
reality.6 

This  sketch  of  the  development  in  early  reflection  upon  the  character 
and  work  of  Jesus  gives  a  hint  of  the  importance  of  viewing  the  New 
Testament,  not  as  a  book  whose  parts  dovetail  into  each  other  like 
the  chapters  of  a  modern  novel,  but  as  a  collection  of  writings  each 
with  its  own  historical,  political,  social,  and  even  topographical  affilia- 
tions. To  be  rightly  understood,  the  different  messages  of  these  various 
documents  must  be  related  to  the  milieu  of  life  and  thought  from  which 
they  emerged.  To  be  correctly  appreciated,  the  writers  must  be  allowed 
to  speak  for  themselves,  each  in  his  own  tongue  and  each  according  to 
the  time  and  locality  of  his  own  religious  experience.  The  dominating 
idea  throughout  the  New  Testament  is  inseparably  associated  with  the 
one  whose  life  and  teaching  are  accepted  as  contributing  hi  a  singularly 
unique  fashion  to  the  religious  satisfaction  of  different  individuals  and 
different  communities.  Each  particular  group  creates  an  interpretation 
of  the  hero's  career  in  terms  of  its  own  religious  achievements  and  ideals. 
Each  writer  presents  his  Savior  in  relation  to  his  own  world- view.7  Thus 

1  John  20: 22.  3  John  19: 38.  s  john  3:16,  36,  etc. 

2  John  3:18;  4:25.         4  Matt.  24:14.         6  John  6:41  ff.;  8:51;  12:36;  15:  iff. 
7  "The  human  mind  is  a  structure  which  has  grown  up  under  certain  conditions, 

and  the  thoughts  which  it  forms  and  the  criticisms  which  it  passes  on  its  thoughts 
depend  upon  that  structure.  Not  only  the  thought  but  the  experience  which  they 
are  to  interpret  is,  again,  conditioned." — L.  T.  Hobhouse,  Morals  in  Evolution,  II,  267. 


NEW  TESTAMENT  WORLD-VIEWS  67 

can  be  traced  in  the  New  Testament  various  pictures  of  Jesus  differing  in 
detail  according  to  the  world-views  of  the  different  groups,  yet  all  agreeing 
happily  in  the  treatment  of  but  one  personality,  who  was  to  them  "  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ." 

Christianity  of  the  so-called  dogmatic  type,  whether  Catholic  or 
Protestant,  building  as  it  does  its  structure  of  religious  concepts  upon 
foundations  furnished  by  formularies  of  the  first  few  centuries  of  our 
era,  has  been  satisfied,  nay  jealous,  to  guard  a  composite  representation 
of  Jesus.  On  close  examination  this  is  found  to  assume  an  identical 
plane,  emotional,  mental,  and  temporal,  for  the  whole  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment literature.  With  the  rapid  progress  of  educational  development 
in  present-day  civilization  there  is  growing,  pari  passu,  an  increasingly 
intelligent  demand  for  a  reinterpretation  of  the  literary  remains  so 
closely  interwoven  with  the  sources  of  the  Christian  religion;  this  in 
order  that  the  genetic  connections  and  environmental  affinities  of  such  a 
remarkable  world-phenomenon  may  be  more  correctly  observed  and 
appraised.  If  modern  life  in  all  its  phases  is  to  feel  more  potently  the 
impact  of  Christianity  as  a  religious  movement  of  supreme  worth,  this 
religion  must  be  loosed  from  the  bondage,  ecclesiastical  or  otherwise, 
which  inevitably  prevents  its  being  regarded  as  an  integral  part  of 
human  development.  Only  as  this  is  effected  can  Christianity  with  its 
many  rich  and  varied  elements  come  into  true  perspective  as  marking 
out  a  pathway  of  vital  religious  experience  trod  by  Jesus  and  his  followers. 
Such  a  procedure  "  calls  for  a  restoration  of  the  whole  though t- world " 
in  which  the  New  Testament  writers  and  their  first  readers  lived  and 
worked.1  The  actual  complex  life-conditions  surrounding  these  men 
of  faith  must  be  studied  and  interpreted  in  order  that  the  triumphant 
spirit  which  is  the  "prime  original"  of  Christianity  may  come  to  its 
own  in  the  life  of  men  today. 

1  E.  D.  Burton  in  A  Guide  to  the  Study  of  the  Christian  Religion,  p.  177. 


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INDEX 


INDEX 


Abraham,  59,  65 

Academy,  later,  n 

Acts,  Book  of,  43,  55 

Adonis,  consort  of  Aphrodite  in  Syrian 

cult,  49 
Aeschines,  49 

Ahriman,  evil  spirit  of  Persism,  15 
Alexandria:    literature  of,  13;    Judaism 

in,  14 

Anaxagoras,  his  principle  of  creation,  7 
Aphrodite,  49 
Apocalypse,  21 

Apocalyptists,  21,  28,  29,  35,  44 
Apollinarian  games,  49 
Apuleius,  Metamorphoses,  50. 
Aristarchus  of  Samos,  2 
Aristippus,  9 
Aristotle,  7,  8,  12,  14,  20 
Asia  Minor,  62 
Assumption  of  Moses,  27 
Astarte,  15,  49 
Atargatis,  15,  49 
Athens,  2 
Attis,  49,  50 
Augustus,  54,  62 
Aurelian,  12 

Baur,  August,  definition  of  Weltanschau- 
ung, 5 
Bel,  12 
Beltis,  15 
Bethlehem,  59 

Boutroux,  E.  M.  M.,  five  stages  of  mystic 
life,  40 

Caesarea-Philippi,  41 

Caird,    Edward:     compares    Plato    and 

Aristotle,  8;   Skeptics,  n;   mysticism, 

37 

Charles,  R.  H.,  on  Philo's  world-view,  14 
Chrysippus,  12 
Cicero,  on  the  Skeptics,  n 
Cleanthes  the  Stoic,  2,  10,  28 
Clement  of  Alexandria,  3,  n.  i 


Colossians,  creation  theory  of,  21,  22 

Corinthians,  Epistle  to,  27,  30,  31,  54 

Crates,  31 

Cumont,  Franz,  on  religious  societies,  50 

Cybele,  49 

Cynic-Stoics,  30,  48 

David,  59 

Delacroix  Henri,  three  stages  in  mystic 

life,  39,  42. 
Demeter,  49 
Democritus,  5 
Demosthenes,  49 
Dionysius  the  Areopagite,  38 
Dionysus,  21,  49 

Eleusinian  games,  49 
Enoch,  Book  of,  13,  27 
Ephesians,  Epistle  to,  27,  30 
Ephesus,  48,  63 
Epictetus,  30 
Epicurus,  5 
Eshmun,  49 

Eucken,  Rudolf:  on  Plato,  6;   on  Aris- 
totle, 8 

Galileo,  2 

Gayomart,  15 

Genesis:  narratives,  22;   cosmogony,  27 

Gnostic,  13,  14,  15,  16,  29 

Gomorrah,  18 

Greece,  62 

Hades,  17 

Hebrews,  Epistle  to,  22,  31,  44 

Helios,  12 

Hellene,  3 

Heraclitus,  3 

Hesiod,  3 

Hicks,  R.  p.,  concerning  Stoic  attitude 

toward  life,  10 
Homer,  his  physics,  3 

Ishtar,  48 
Isis,  49 


73 


74 


THE'  WORLD^/IEW  OF  THE  FOURTH  GOSPEL 


Jerusalem,  63 

John  the  Baptist,  57,  59,  64 

Jonah,  60 

Joseph,  59,  60 

Latium,  62 

Lazarus,  32 

Levant,  17 

Logia,  55,  58,  60 

Logos:  Stoic,  9;  Philonic,  13;  Johannine, 

19,  20,  22  ff.,  28,  31,  36,  45  ff.,  63  ff. 
Lucius,  50 

Maccabees,  Fourth  Book  of,  13,  21 

Marcus  Aurelius,  n 

Marduk,  26 

Mark,  Gospel  of,  41,  57,  63  ff. 

Martha,  32 

Matthew,  41,  59  ff.,  63  ff. 

Messianism:    Jewish,    54,    56,    58,    59; 

Hellenistic,  62 

Metamorphoses  of  Apuleius,  50 
Mithras,  49,  54,  5» 
Moses,  44,  60 
Musonius  Rufus,  30,  31 

Nathanael,  22 

New  Testament,  i,  17,  21 

Nicodemus,  63 

Noah,  56 

Oraiuzd,  good  spirit  of  Persism,  15 
Orphic:  hymns,  20;  communities,  51 

Palestine,  59 

Palmyra,  12 

Paul,  17  ff.,  18,  28  ff.,  42  ff.,  53  ff.,  64 

Pentecost,  66 

Persephone,  21 

Persian:   its  dualism,  15;   world-empire, 

52 

Peter,  17;  Second  Epistle,  31 
Pharisees,  63 

Philo,  3;  theology,  13;  logos,  19,  21 
Pilate,  66 


Plato,  i,  n.  i;  world- view,  6  ff.;  sidereal- 
ism,  12;  Timaeus,  13,  20,  28 
Plotinus,  39 

Revelation,  Book  of,  27 

Ritschl,  definition  of  Weltanschauung,  5 

Rome,  63 

Sabazius,  49 
Sadducees,  63 
Samos,  2 

Seneca,  n,  28,  30,  31 
Serapis,  49,  54 
Sheol,  3 

Shepherd  of  Hennas,  36 
Sinai,  44 
Skeptics,  ii 
Socrates,  2,  31 
Sodom,  17 
Sol  Invictus,  12 
Solomon,  60 

Stoics:     world-view,    monistic,    9,    18; 
world-soul,  22,  28,  29 

Tammuz,  48 

Temple,  Jewish,  44 

Tertullian,  49 

Testaments  of  Twelve  Patriarchs,  27 

Thessalonica,  18 

Thomas,  47 

Tiamat,  26 

Tigris-Euphrates,  n,  26 

Torah,  2,  36,  44,  S3 

Virgil,  62 

Weltanschauung,  definitions  of,  5  ff. 
Wisdom,  Book  of,  13,  17,  19,  21 

Yom  Yahweh,  in  Hebrew  prophetism,  44 

Zealots,  56 
Zeno,  9 
Zoroastrianism,  15 


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